Working hours of scientists...

Yes, we admit, we scientist do have weird working hours, but not only hours, but places too, since basically you can do your "written work" anywhere these days. I would say that this has improved possibilities for women, as it has been long discussed how women can combine the family life and science. I can't even count the hours how much I have spent in a car and working. Sounds weird, but my husband used to be the one who drove, where ever we were traveling as a family. Today, I have to take of care of driving, so cannot do that much work in a car anymore, but I have found other ways how to merge things. And I know that I'm not the only one, since I quite often meet my university colleagues in children's playgrounds with their computers, and I'm now talking about indoor playgrounds and hobbyplaces, like dressing rooms, waiting areas, and game stands. And I also know that we, scientist are not alone, I also regularly see other parents, most-likely non-scientist, also with computers making the most of the waiting time.

What then motives us to do so, since quite often this also (unfortunately) goes beyond the paid working hours. Well, I guess it depends... in academia, it's all about the results and outcome. The competition is so hard, that to survive you need to give all you got. Today (Sunday), I was thinking what motivated me to work with the grant application that we are about to submit soon and the answer was pretty clear. I want to give a possibility to a young scientist and get a funding for his Ph.D. studies. Let's keep fingers crossed!