The Sucky and Awesome of Academia

I am feeling particularly down about my science these days, owing to a combination of professional events mixed with too little sleep and probably too much salt (darn you, Cheetos and beef jerky). So I am cranky and thinking nobody cares about any of this and it's been ages since I heard anything at a conference that makes me go "Wow! I wish I had thought of that." It's crushing boredom and disillusionment all around. But it's not like this blog has ever been all rainbows and unicorns, so no surprises there.
Here's an off-the-top-of-my-curmudgeony-head list of things that suck about being a professor as well as those I still realize are great despite my advanced grumpiness.
The sucky:
1) It is hard constantly facing criticism and rejection. Even acceptances don't come without criticism and a ton or work. Sure, we are all fighting the good fight for the accuracy of science, so sloppy or incomplete work should not get a pass, but, after what I have seen as an author, reviewer, and associate editor in the past month, I am finding it really, really hard not to start getting disillusioned by the peer review. There are a lot of douchebags with too much ego and too much time on their hands, ranging from obnoxiously nitpicky to downright malicious. More...