Some great things about this job, Part 1

My job has a number of abstract benefits, such as the opportunity to work at the frontier of medical science and to carry out research that may eventually help those suffering from disease. These benefits are easy to ignore; they tend to get lost in the shuffle on a day-to-day basis. More concretely, looking at new, interpretable data, no matter how mundane, is always fun. Analyzing interesting results is even more fun. On a more practical note, I have great freedom to set my own schedule and hours. This is a particularly nice benefit since I have kids; I am usually able to easily adjust my schedule, for example, to stay home with them if they're ill or spend time with them if they have an odd day off.  Molecular biology can be extraordinarily frustrating and there can be long periods of time where little progress is made. In rough stretches like this, I especially appreciate also being a physician. With patient care, I always feel like I've accomplished something; same goes for teaching.