Biotech Bytes: Conversations with Biotechnology / Pharmaceutical IT Leaders

A Year of Biotech Bytes: The Stories, Lessons, and Laughs Behind the Mic

• Steve Swan • Episode 42

Share episode

A Year of Biotech Bytes: Reflections, Stories, and Honest Moments
#biotechbytes #biotechpodcast #behindthemic

This episode is a look back at the year, the lessons we learned, and the moments that shaped Biotech Bytes. Please visit our website to get more information: https://swangroup.net/

I’m joined by Mary Louise Smith, the voice, support, and good energy behind every episode. She’s the person many listeners never see, yet she’s a major part of why this podcast runs the way it does. 

We talk about how Biotech Bytes really started, why simple conversations often lead to the best ideas, and how AI can help us focus on the work that matters most. Mary also shares what leadership looks like behind the scenes and a few personal stories that shaped our year, including our shared love for chocolate.

If you’ve listened this year, thank you for being part of this community. Let us know what topics or guests you want to hear in the new year.

Links from this episode:

  • Get to know more about Bill Wallace: https://www.linkedin.com/in/williamwallace2
  • Learn more about Intercept Pharmaceuticals:https://www.interceptpharma.com


🔔𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬.
https://www.youtube.com/@Biotech_Bytes/?sub_confirmation=1 

🔗 Stay Connected With Us.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-swan-group/ 
Website:  https://swangroup.net/   

=============================

🎬Suggested videos for you:

▶️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6EzJ1F_6pg 
▶️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be8szNVFrNk 
▶️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Be6WEEy2JM 
▶️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqpB3pGywkU 
▶️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9QyuG6p3Ys

=============================

#biotechbytes #biotechpodcast #behindthemic #leadershipstories #aiinworkplace #humanconnection

A Year of Biotech Bytes: The Stories, Lessons, and Laughs Behind the Mic

Steve Swan [00:00:00]:
Up next on Biotech Bytes, join me for a conversation with Mary Louise Smith here in my office for the holiday version of our podcast where we go through the past year, talk about the year ahead and what was surprising, what was expected and where we think we're going. Hope to see you there. Thanks.

Steve Swan [00:00:23]:
Welcome to Biotech Bytes. This is the holiday version, actually. Merry Christmas. This is coming out, I think, plus or minus one day to Christmas here in 2025 today. I'm your host, Steve Swan. We usually chat with IT leaders within Biotech, but we have a special holiday version. Most of you who have called our office, emailed our office, sent smoke signals to our office, have done anything of the sort, have inevitably interacted with my guest, Mary Louise Smith there she is, the one and the only. Anyway, so we decided to do a holiday version.

Steve Swan [00:00:58]:
Mary, thank you for joining me.

Mary Louise Smith [00:01:02]:
I'm here.

Steve Swan [00:01:04]:
Good. Nice. MARY LAUGHS A LOT so this is all good. And so we are going to just chit chat about kind of the podcast, how it's gone for last year, what we're thinking about for the next year and, and that sort of thing, right, Mar.

Mary Louise Smith [00:01:20]:
That's right.

Steve Swan [00:01:21]:
That is correct. So couple things that, you know, some folks thought were interesting, Mary being one of them was talking about some of the untold stories behind Biotech Bites. And the first and first one that, that, that she asked me to, to mention is around.

Steve Swan [00:01:40]:
When I decided, right. Mary, when, when I decided to start doing the podcast, I think was what you were talking about there.

Mary Louise Smith [00:01:47]:
Yeah, yeah, you were, you were going to your vacation in Germany and, and you came back like all excited about this thing that you were going to do and you can say, you can explain how, how you came up.

Steve Swan [00:02:06]:
Yeah. So I was always been so against this being on camera, you know, I don't even want to look at me. So who else wants to look at me? Right? So, or talking or, you know, whatever. So. But I said it to my wife on the plane on the way back from Oktoberfest a few years ago. You know, I think I'm going to do a podcast. She said that I was crazy and I thought, you know, I have so many awesome conversations with all the people that I talk to being, you know, it leaders and such a collaborative group, such an awesome group. And you know, I mean, who wants to reinvent the wheel? Let's piggyback off someone else's ideas, right? And so my idea was, you know, take my, essentially my phone conversations and record them here and release them.

Steve Swan [00:02:54]:
And you know, when I got Back I thought, let me check with a few IT leaders, some of the folks that I know, and let's ask them what their thoughts are about the podcast. So they said, great idea. You know, they said, others have done this or thought about doing this, but inevitably they were trying to sell stuff and do all sorts of things on there. So don't do that. Just share and make it sort of like a, you know, a little environment, a little ecosystem as to, you know, letting people share ideas. And so now when I talk to somebody, we go through some of their thoughts and, and then other folks will inevitably contact me and say, hey, I saw Mary on the podcast. And I'll say, go ahead and contact to tell her that you saw her on my podcast. You know, she'd love to talk about it.

Mary Louise Smith [00:03:36]:
So when you first told me that this was you were going to do when you came back from vacation, I was so excited. So many of your conversations that I get to, you know, he overhear.

Mary Louise Smith [00:03:50]:
You say so many great things to so many people. And I think that having those conversations public will, you'll be able to share those, those great conversations abroad. And it, some of the conversations are so good and so helpful to everybody, not just one person. So I think it was such a great idea. I'm so glad we decided to do this.

Steve Swan [00:04:16]:
Yeah. And it seems like people are really liking it, you know, because you can share all those ideas and you can talk to, you know, many different people and get their thoughts on things. And I think that, I think people genuinely enjoy it. You know, it's, it's advice. You get to hear, you know, some of the folks that you either know or don't know and their thoughts on things. So I, I've been, I've been pleasantly surprised. And each day that we do another one, it seems to bring out the best in some folks. So it's, it's good stuff, you know.

Steve Swan [00:04:45]:
And speaking of the best, you asked me to talk or one of the things you mentioned was the best and funniest behind the scenes moment with any guests. And I don't know that there was anyone in particular. I mean, I think you find out a lot about somebody when you're doing the podcast. But, you know, there's always the, the, the technical snafus and things like that. So I can't say that there was any crazy behind the scenes funny moments with guests. Can you think of anything that you know besides the normal technical snafus or anything along those lines? Probably not much, right?

Mary Louise Smith [00:05:16]:
No, I mean, it's so funny how people just so naturally want to talk about all of these great things in their industry and they want to share them. That, you know, I think that the conversations happen very natural once they, you know, you know, feeling comfortable with the whole camera thing, I think, you know, I think it's just really natural that they can tell their stories and what, what's really important to them.

Steve Swan [00:05:43]:
Well, yeah, so I guess that kind of leads into the next thing, but we can also kind of combine these two. You know, one of the things that surprised me the most, which is another thing you, you, you mentioned, is, is that I don't put much structure to this really, at all. I want it to flow the way it needs to flow and, and each person's different. As if folks have listened to me on the podcast or see me, see my posts on LinkedIn and stuff. I talk a lot about, you know, part of recruiting an art, the other parts of science, science. I, I, I, I float on this on the art side of things. Right. I don't really create much structure out of it because it's got to flow to where the individual wants it to flow.

Steve Swan [00:06:25]:
Right? So, and I think that that's what surprised me the most. What surprised me the most about the podcast in general is that most folks are okay with that. They are okay without that structure. There's been a few along the way that, you know, really want it mapped out as far as questions are concerned. But the thing that really surprised me the most this year about the podcast and about my guests, is that.

Steve Swan [00:06:50]:
Not having a ton of structure and allowing it to just sort of flow without a regimented set of questions has been pretty good, pretty beneficial for, for everybody, for listeners, for us and for the guests. So, you know, I think that that's great, you know, and you also wanted me to mention anything that I think we could improve upon or evolve into next year or this coming year. And, you know, I think that, you know, in 2026, you know, I think we could.

Steve Swan [00:07:22]:
Maybe we could.

Steve Swan [00:07:25]:
Improve upon my last question. My last question is just about music, and I asked people about music. I, I could come up with a, I could come up with a battery of questions. I think people are getting ready for that one. You know, I started using a different one recently for the last couple of podcasts, but I could try and mix that up a little bit, because I think that last question, when I'm asking somebody some personal stuff, really brings out who they are, and, and I think people like that, it seems to me, anyway, the guests and the listeners. So I think we could change that a little bit.

Mary Louise Smith [00:07:55]:
Personal spin on, you know, who you're talking to. And it's, it's not just a sea level position. It's a real person that works there and, and how they think and how they want to change the world in their position.

Steve Swan [00:08:11]:
Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely. I think it's, it's good stuff and that's, that kind of leads us into something else. Right. I think that in, in 2026, I think what we could do. One of the big things you want to improve upon, you know, that I would want to do is maybe exactly that a little bit more. What do you want to call it? Self improvement as a, as a, as a, an IT leader, you know, helping. Because when we, when we were recently talking to some folks about, you know, being IT leaders, we got into a lot of, of, you know, practitioner versus.

Steve Swan [00:08:48]:
You know, innovator. Right. So maybe talking more about that on how you get from A to B. How do you really, you know, help to drive those business decisions? How do you really help to come up with the art of the possible? How do you really sit with business and understand what they need and then make sure that you're, you're adding value as opposed to just executing or taking orders? Right. So. And there's a fine line there, but, you know, you need to take control and really ask all those questions. So maybe that's something we'll get more into in 2026. Because I think that the business value of it is, is it's right on the surface and everybody's always thinking about it.

Steve Swan [00:09:24]:
I don't know that anybody's truly. Well, some folks are truly digging into it, but the folks that are the real innovators are the ones that are making a difference for their company. And some of the business leaders that are hiring those folks don't see it and don't push for that. But I think if we raise, raise the tide. Raising tides. Raise all boats, right? Raise the tide for all of it and all IT leaders, it'll get us to a point where everybody's smarter, better, faster, you know, what they do, you know, and, and again, that kind of goes to the biggest, like one of the biggest topics this year, Mayor, was, you know, we talked a lot about, and you saw this in some of the podcast about AI and one of the things you even brought up, I think, when we were talking about it recently about AI is how AI again, raising tides, raise all boats. AI makes everybody smarter, faster, better. Bill Wallace on one of the podcasts.

Steve Swan [00:10:16]:
And he said he stole the term. I hadn't heard it before or since. Talked about the bionic employee. Right. How AI helps us all, will help us all, and does help us all do some of our mundane tasks and then allows us, frees us up for an hour, two or three a day, and lets us focus on other things. Right. As a recruiter, staying on the phone more. Right.

Steve Swan [00:10:36]:
As opposed to doing any, I don't know, notes.

Mary Louise Smith [00:10:39]:
You once wrote an article about the human condition and how important that is in the hiring process. Being able to talk to people, being able to communicate to people, and letting both the client and the candidate know that you're there for them. And you know, that that conversation, that, that feeling that there's somebody human behind it makes all of the difference for everybody. And I think that AI, no matter what, can never replace that. And I think that AI will enhance your labor production. Getting an email out, you know, scheduling something. But that conversation.

Mary Louise Smith [00:11:29]:
Asking people what's important to you is invaluable. And you can't replace that with AI ever.

Steve Swan [00:11:36]:
No, no, absolutely not. 100%. You know, and, and, and I think that, you know, some of those unexpected things that we heard this year, some of the unexpected trends, some of the unexpected things that came out of it was again, about AI. And, you know, we really have to nail down, like you said, what do we want out of it? Right. Where are we going? What are we, what are we looking for to answer? And, you know, the use of AI. Right. How are we going to use it? How are we going to be that bionic employee? Some folks are just putting it in the center of their IT plan just to put it there because they've been forced to put it there by some folks in their, in their company. So it's kind of all over the map.

Steve Swan [00:12:18]:
We are in the wild west here, but we're all figuring it out as we go along. And everybody knows the one thing everybody agrees on is it's powerful, it's awesome, and it's here to stay, and it's going to help us all. Beyond that, I, I see it as kind of like politics or religion. Everybody's got their opinion there. It is beyond that, and you're not changing it. You know, so when I start with a guest, I kind of get their framework as to what their thoughts are, and we kind of use that as our backboard and kind of go from there because some want it to be the centerpiece and it's going to run their whole organization. Some Want it to be attached to some of their systems and help out someone, just their employees, to use it on the side and make them better. That bionic employee.

Steve Swan [00:12:55]:
Others just say, okay, we're going to have it there. And as it gets better, faster, smarter, we're going to continue to build it into what we do. But away from that, we're not doing much more with it. So, you know, again, it's. There's no right and wrong. It's kind of all over the place, you know? You know, and.

Steve Swan [00:13:13]:
To kind of continue in the vein of talking about the podcast and what we felt about it for this year, one of Mary was asking me about one of the most rewarding things I saw or I felt out of the podcast. And it's what I do on a daily basis is talk to folks. I get to know different people and I get to hear their thoughts, processes, issues, concepts, ideas on different subjects. And that's what I do on the phone all day, which is awesome. Now I'm just recording it. And unfortunately for you, my listeners, you have to listen to me. So, you know, I apologize for that. So.

Steve Swan [00:13:47]:
But hopefully you're listening to my guests more than you are to me. So. And that's why I have Mary here, so you can listen to her, not me. But I'm, I'm taking up most of the time here, so I apologize. But as far as.

Steve Swan [00:14:00]:
Holiday. Right. So this is our holiday version. So I guess I could say.

Mary Louise Smith [00:14:09]:
What.

Steve Swan [00:14:09]:
Are you looking for for Christmas, Mary?

Steve Swan [00:14:14]:
Well, what's on the witch list?

Mary Louise Smith [00:14:17]:
We have a tradition in the office that we, we always, me and Steve have a wicked sweet tooth for chocolate.

Steve Swan [00:14:28]:
We do. Whether it's Christmas, whether it's Halloween, whether it's Groundhog's Day, whether it's Memorial Day, Labor Day, Fourth of July or Monday. Monday is another celebration. It doesn't really matter. If chocolate's in the office, it's not going to last long. Yeah. No, no. So that's not a request.

Steve Swan [00:14:49]:
Please don't send chocolate because we're going to eat it really fast. That's just kind of giving you a little bit of the behind the scenes. As to Mary and Steve, we really, really like chocolate. So anyway, that's probably our bad habit and our Achilles heel here. Right. You know, another, another sort of thing that Mary, you know, she asked me about some of the something that folks wouldn't know that goes on when I'm doing the podcast. Number one, I do keep notes around so you'll see me. My eyes wander and I'm reading notes or I'm thinking about different things.

Steve Swan [00:15:24]:
That's number one. But number two, I have such a great camera that I bought. I'm literally sitting in the dark right now with one little light on me. I know it doesn't seem that way. Well, now I got Christmas lights back here, but I'm literally in the dark because this camera is so awesome that I can't figure out another way to get to work. So I got paper over the windows.

Mary Louise Smith [00:15:43]:
You know, I walk by and I'm like, why is he in the dark talking to himself?

Steve Swan [00:15:48]:
Yeah, yeah. And I'm usually not. I'm usually talking to one of my great CIOs, but it does appear as though I'm talking to myself in this dark cave because our door has a big glass. It's all glass. So I got a paper over it to make sure that no light comes in. It's amazing, you know. So.

Steve Swan [00:16:06]:
What'S one thing that Mary wishes guests knew before they recorded?

Mary Louise Smith [00:16:10]:
Well, I know that, you know, it's always an experience doing something that you haven't done before. And I think that sometimes when they get on the Riverside platform, they.

Mary Louise Smith [00:16:25]:
In a panic, will click something that maybe they're not supposed to, and then they'll wait 10 minutes into it, into their time, and they're like, ah, nothing's happening. I don't know what's going on. And, you know, sometimes if, you know, when you're not in a panic beforehand, just try out the platform. And then, you know, it's. It's really easy to use when you're not doing it in a panic. You just click the right buttons, and that way, you know, you can. You can get on a little easier. But if that ever does happen to you, the best thing to do is just give me a call.

Mary Louise Smith [00:17:07]:
I'll walk you through it.

Mary Louise Smith [00:17:10]:
I'd hate to see you miss your recording because you, you know, didn't want to interrupt anybody or not, you know, bother anybody. Bother me. I'm. I'm totally cool with it.

Steve Swan [00:17:22]:
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there's nothing better than being ready, being prepared.

Mary Louise Smith [00:17:26]:
Yeah. Yeah.

Steve Swan [00:17:27]:
Some folks jump on and, and, and it's awesome. It works because most podcasts are on. Are on Riverside, so, you know, but then sometimes folks haven't used it. So, you know, what? Maybe 10 of the time that goes. That goes on.

Mary Louise Smith [00:17:40]:
Yeah, it doesn't happen often, but I always just feel so bad if somebody gets stuck and. And they're waiting and then we have to reschedule them for something that Works, you know, down the road because they didn't want to bother us and they didn't want to call us and. And I feel bad that, you know, they didn't get to do their recordings. So, you know, bother us. Go.

Steve Swan [00:18:01]:
Go bother us. Exactly. That's what it's all about. Bother, bother, bother.

Mary Louise Smith [00:18:04]:
You know, that's right.

Steve Swan [00:18:08]:
One of the things you had asked me about was one of the most human moments of 2025. And when you asked me this, it. It was. It wasn't. It didn't take me long. I was recording a podcast with Shola out of United Therapeutics and such a great guest. Oh, he was awesome. He is awesome.

Steve Swan [00:18:32]:
And I think he's in New York City next month at an AI conference. Anyway.

Steve Swan [00:18:37]:
He and I were talking about a musical, you know, his. His favorite concert, which was Michael Jackson. And we started talking about Michael Jackson. Then we digressed to a special that was on. I don't know if it was YouTube, Apple. I think it was YouTube about the making of We Are the World back from the 80s. So anybody that's marries in my age would know that. And most folks have heard that song, right? And so they did a special on it, which was awesome.

Steve Swan [00:19:04]:
It showed the making of it, it showed the whole thing. But what it really, what it went into for Shoal and I naturally, organically, was a talk about leadership, right? And true leadership. And. And within that special, they showed how Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson kind of took control of the whole. They had this whole cast of characters which all super, super superstars at the time. And they had to corral them and they had to remain as the managers. Well, they couldn't get Bob Dylan to sing Bob Dylan's part. Bob Dylan was in a room with again, 30, 35 super studs of the music industry back then.

Steve Swan [00:19:45]:
And they all left the room. So Quincy and Michael Jackson got them out of the room because Bob was getting shy in front of all them. I mean, Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper, Kim Karnes, you know, all these different people. Anyway, they got him out of the room and then as Bob started singing, it still didn't sound right. So Stevie Wonder came back into the room and Stevie Wonder had to imitate Bob Dylan to Bob. So he had to show Bob how to sing like Bob. So he imitated Bob, had Bob sing like Bob, then they went back and forth a little bit. Then Bob Dylan, who had a decent sized part in that song, yes, he did, got to sing like Bob Dylan.

Steve Swan [00:20:23]:
And as Stevie Wonder showed him how to Sing like Bob Dylan. And again, it showed leadership with, with Quincy and, and well, and Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson. So that was one of, in my opinion, one of the most human moments for me this year as Shoal and I were doing our podcast. I thought it was fun. It was really cool. It just, it layered on top of everything. A lot of different things.

Mary Louise Smith [00:20:47]:
Now we won't gonna watch that.

Steve Swan [00:20:49]:
Yeah, it was, it was very, very cool. I don't know. Anyway, and, and, and another, you know, last thing was, you know, one of the big hopes and predictions for 26 and I think I already kind of hit on it, was the bionic employee. I think that, I hope that the bionic employee becomes more widely used, more prevalent. Something that a lot of folks wrap their arms around and appreciate because I think AI, for the most part, a lot of it's. We're out over the front of our skis on it. And I think that the, the best use cases and the most useful use cases are some of the low hanging fruit, which is freeing up some of everybody's time so they can do other things and, and AI can help them do that, you know, so that's one of my hopes for 20, 26, you know, so I don't know. Anyway, so be in the holiday version.

Steve Swan [00:21:47]:
All right, Mayor, Be in the holiday version.

Mary Louise Smith [00:21:49]:
Wait a minute, wait a minute. Are you saying that you're hoping that I become the bionic employee?

Steve Swan [00:21:56]:
You can. Yeah, I mean, can make chocolate. Can it make chocolate?

Steve Swan [00:22:01]:
If it can, then you're now the bionic employee.

Steve Swan [00:22:06]:
And I'm okay with that. Right, so, so what about let's go. Let be in the holiday version of the, of the, of the podcast. What holiday traditions? I mean, around the office, we don't really have any because, you know, there's just us in the office. Right. But at home, holiday traditions, man, go.

Mary Louise Smith [00:22:27]:
Oh, holiday traditions is we always celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve and we have the seven fishes.

Steve Swan [00:22:36]:
Really? The Italian thing? Okay, all right. I haven't done that ever.

Mary Louise Smith [00:22:41]:
I'm half Italian. Everyone should know that, right?

Steve Swan [00:22:44]:
My wife's half Italian, so that makes my kids a quarter tie. And I'm zero Italian. Well, maybe I'm half Italian too, because my wife's half Italian. Right. So. But we've never done the seven fishes. I've often wondered what that's like, but I don't think there's seven fish that I could stomach. So I'm.

Steve Swan [00:23:00]:
I don't know. Once you get to the bottom of the seven, maybe there's two, three or four that I could take.

Mary Louise Smith [00:23:05]:
You know what? There's also a tradition that there's usually a bottle of something to open during dinner. So, you know, you start to lose track of the counting part of it, and really, no one really pays attention.

Steve Swan [00:23:18]:
So I'd eat one fish, then maybe three.

Mary Louise Smith [00:23:22]:
It's all good. It's all.

Steve Swan [00:23:24]:
Nobody. Nobody's watching over you. You don't have it. You don't have, like, a scorecard that you're checking off your seven 50s? No. That's not a thing. No. Okay, good. Well, then now I'm good with it then.

Mary Louise Smith [00:23:33]:
But I have to say we've had some interesting situations where we bring a new fish into the mix, and it's definitely not brought back the second year like the smelts. That was not a good. Good one.

Steve Swan [00:23:48]:
Just get a little. Little. You don't get a lot of that. Right.

Steve Swan [00:23:53]:
What's the biggest quantity of fish you have? I mean, do you do salmon? I don't even know what the seven fishes are. Is salmon one of it is.

Mary Louise Smith [00:24:00]:
Well, we do, like, shrimp cocktail to start, you know, and then we have clam sauce, like a clam spaghetti, as. Like an. An appetizer also.

Steve Swan [00:24:10]:
Okay.

Mary Louise Smith [00:24:11]:
And then, you know, my husband loves to fry everything, so he has the fried fish situation going on with cod and flounder and then shrimp again. So, see, sh. Shrimp got counted twice.

Steve Swan [00:24:29]:
I'm fine with that.

Mary Louise Smith [00:24:31]:
Yeah. And the smelt was out. Yeah, that was. That was not good.

Steve Swan [00:24:35]:
Do you guys do any white elephant or anything like that? Any joke gifts after a bunch of drinks? Like, our family does that. Do you don't do that.

Mary Louise Smith [00:24:41]:
Oh, no, we don't do that. No, no.

Steve Swan [00:24:45]:
Yeah, we get. We get. It's a dollar limit of $10. And then we wrap them up, and then everybody hands them out, and then they steal them from each other. And my father, who's starting to lose his memory, well, he's lost his memory. He wasn't playing by the rules. He would just find. He would.

Steve Swan [00:25:02]:
He would look around the room, and he liked somebody's gift, even if it wasn't time to steal. If they opened it, he's like, I want that. And we're like, dad, it's. You got to wait till you turn to steal. No, I want that. I'm never giving it back. And he would. He would just hug it all night long.

Steve Swan [00:25:13]:
So he did that the last two years.

Mary Louise Smith [00:25:15]:
I did learn a really big lesson from last year. My grandson taught me.

Mary Louise Smith [00:25:22]:
So I got him a gift. It was a little kid's camera because he's always stealing our phones to take pictures. And he always likes to smile big and say cheese. So Mimi got him a kid's camera, and I had him open it up. I was so excited. This was going to be great. And he opened it up, and I didn't think to charge it. I didn't know he caught.

Mary Louise Smith [00:25:49]:
He called it his cheese. And he started crying like crazy because Mimi didn't charge it. So this year, I'm getting him a little Thomas the Tank train. I've taken the whole thing out. I've got it all around the living room, riding along, got the batteries. And my husband's like, this is going to stay up until Christmas, is it? Like, no, you don't have to worry.

Steve Swan [00:26:17]:
Mimi learned her lesson.

Mary Louise Smith [00:26:19]:
That's right.

Steve Swan [00:26:21]:
Mimi became a bionic grandma.

Steve Swan [00:26:26]:
There it is now. So let's.

Mary Louise Smith [00:26:29]:
Let's.

Steve Swan [00:26:29]:
Let's back up. So what does Mimi want for Christmas?

Mary Louise Smith [00:26:35]:
I don't know.

Steve Swan [00:26:36]:
Okay. All right. Besides chocolate?

Mary Louise Smith [00:26:39]:
Besides chocolate. Well, that's a tough one.

Mary Louise Smith [00:26:43]:
I don't know. I think we're probably gonna take a little trip or something.

Steve Swan [00:26:47]:
Oh, good. That's awesome. Good. Well. And that's. So you didn't ask me, but the one thing that I really love about the holiday season and about the industry we work in is everybody takes a week off between Christmas and New Year's, so.

Mary Louise Smith [00:27:00]:
That's so nice. It's so nice.

Steve Swan [00:27:02]:
Yeah, that's what I'm looking.

Mary Louise Smith [00:27:04]:
So where are you going for Christmas?

Steve Swan [00:27:07]:
Nowhere. We're around. I'm going to a couple concerts over the Christmas break and New Year's break as. As per usual and just staying around, just decompressing. I'm gonna need it. Or I need it already, actually. But, yeah, we'll get there. We'll stumble to the finish line, and then we'll, you know, hopefully be fresh and ready to go.

Steve Swan [00:27:31]:
Coming. Coming into the new year because. Feels like it's going to be a busy one based on the way this year's ended out. So I'm looking forward to it. Be honest with you. Yeah, it's gonna be.

Mary Louise Smith [00:27:40]:
Yeah, it's gonna be good with both feet at the ready come January.

Steve Swan [00:27:45]:
Yeah, I. That's just the way. I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm off, but doesn't feel that way right now. So anyway. Awesome. Awesome.

Steve Swan [00:27:53]:
Awesome. Well, Merry Christmas, everybody.

Mary Louise Smith [00:27:56]:
Yay. Merry Christmas.

Steve Swan [00:27:58]:
Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. And Happy New Year. Yeah, we look forward to working with everybody and getting more great biotech bites, right, Mary?

Mary Louise Smith [00:28:07]:
Absolutely. We really love talking to all of you and we love learning about you, and you come become part of our swan group family. It's really nice.

Steve Swan [00:28:17]:
One last question, Mary. You ready?

Mary Louise Smith [00:28:19]:
All right, go for it.

Steve Swan [00:28:21]:
Your favorite live band, who is your favorite musician that you've seen live?

Mary Louise Smith [00:28:26]:
Oh, you know, it's Kansas, for sure. I love Kansas. They just put on such a great show. So fun. I was so sad they weren't in the area this year.

Steve Swan [00:28:37]:
Yeah, no, they weren't. I. I heard them the other day on the radio and I thought of you, but. Yeah, no, I know, I know. But nobody else knows. That's why I had to ask that.

Mary Louise Smith [00:28:47]:
Well, we're old school, so, you know, we like those older bands.

Steve Swan [00:28:50]:
I know we are old school, but you don't have to. You don't have to rub it in, so.

Steve Swan [00:28:56]:
All right, well, cool. Mayor, thank you very much.

Mary Louise Smith [00:29:00]:
Thanks for having me. Merry Christmas, everybody.