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Okay when I think of being a scientist I think boring long days and no sleep. How can you change the way I think about this?

why do you think that? Days are cetainly not boring - the thing with research is that you are inventing and discovering all the time. Creating, like being an artist. And because of this no two days are ever the same. As for long days, most people in my lab work 9 to 5 - or rather 10.30 to 6.30, because with science you can usually work flexible time. The only reason you would want to work long hours is because you are totally hooked on what you are doing, so sometimes some of us do - I know I do! much more rewarding than watching the TV.

I get 7-8 hours sleep a night because without it I would fall apart. It is all about finding a balance between your work and the rest of your life, I know plenty people in professions like medicine or finance who work much longer hours than I do.

I sleep well, and work hard during the day. When observing at the telescope, I work all night, and sleep during the day!

OK, I'll take this bait too, and slightly differently.  Long?  often.  Boring? no, rarely boring, although sometimes tedious.  Now I'll comment on why.
As Lyndsey mentioned, our hours are usually really flexible.  It is really nice -- I can set up appointments or be with my kids, etc.  really easily. But my brain is always going, and I usually work after my kids are in bed.  I do some of my best thinking in the shower.  Sometimes I really wish I could turn the brain off, to stop thinking about why this piece of computer code isn't working, or why those particular sunspot data are so confusing, etc.  Sometimes I wish I had a 9--5 job, like a bank teller or a plumber, and at 5pm the job was done and the rest of life could happen.  But as they say, "the grass is always greener", 9-5 jobs don't as easily let you go skiing mid-week!  And 9-5 jobs are great for lots of people, but I think I would get bored. 
Tedious is debugging code, editing (sometimes), re-doing something for the 17th time because you have found a subtle, really really subtle and exhasperating problem with what you did for the data/interpretation the previous 16 times.  But getting to the bottom of that mystery -- what didn't work, and why -- is challenging and often times a lot of fun.  Debating (friendly, but often very intense) with colleagues about how to do something or interpret a result is by no means boring.  The number of "da...wha???" (sometimes with additional expletives) expressed daily is huge, and it means that you face daily puzzles of a huge range of topics, from "ok, why did I get a result of zero, again, when it clearly ain't!!!???" to working to figure out some of the biggest and most important questions in the universe, and everything in between.

[and to add to Sallie's reply -- when I'm at a solar telescope, I work in the day, work some at night looking at the data so make sure there were no problems, and sleep when we're taking calibration sequences with the telescope!  When the observing run is done, then yeah, a few 10-hr sleep nights are usually in short order....]

I don't think it's boring at all its very fun

Sandy sue

 

I agree with then person who wrote it because at least she can speek her mind.

Sandy Sue

I think that person has the right to talk that way but the people have to sleep

Mary Lill

Hi,

In fact, being a scientist is fascinating! It is all about doing what you are interested. You come up with your ideas and you do what you think is interesting, isn't that great?! It is quite opposite from being boring. If a scientist is working long hours, it is because she/he is fascinated with the topics and cannot stop thinking/working on it and wants to prove the ideas and find the solutions.

Yan