The Perks of Being a Manager

I got the opportunity to join my manager in a conference call meeting yesterday. Some members were running late, so while waiting, I looked around her office a bit. She has a bookcase littered with a combination of books about technology and books about management. Another shelf holds binders containing information regarding clients, instruction manuals (for interfaces and Microsoft Office applications), and meeting logs. Atop this bookcase are so many awards I couldn't see all of them from my chair; the most prominent was an award for having worked with the company for over ten years. She has two calendars, a few pieces of art, and a smart board. She also has a separate fiscal calendar, another large calendar for her desk, and a table of the time in different time zones across the world relative to the time in the US. For some reason, she also has a periodic table, but who am I to judge. As I sat there waiting for our meeting to begin, I just had to pen out some notes. I got to thinking - is this the life I want to live one day? My manager informed me that she was very tired, as she had been working since five the previous morning and was on her e-mail until midnight the night before, just to wake up to come in to work at eight again. She looked flustered and exhausted, and is constantly in meetings. Even while we were waiting for this meeting, she started doing other work. As I am helping her with her project, I am aware it is incredibly complicated to implement and requires a lot of time. Even now, so soon to the go live date, problems are being found. Every issue requires so much extra time. She is in meetings almost all day long, every day. On the other hand, these are special circumstances as she is getting ready to go live on her project, so I'm sure she is not nearly as busy as she is now all the time.
It just makes me wonder: is the corner office really worth all the stress? My current answer is still yes. Perhaps this job also seems not as rewarding because I am growing to realize I never want to work in the department I'm currently interning for.
What are your thoughts on management? Does a higher salary have to come with a lack of sleep? I'd love to hear your response.
And as an aside: Michael Jackson passed away yesterday. Crowds were seen outside the hospital where he passed, crying for their icon, their hero. Here's my deal. It may seem heartless, but Michael Jackson has not provided anything positive to our society since he stopped making music in the early 2000's. Sure, he was going on tour, but really, he's been just tabloid fodder for the past few years. He touched little boys. He named his children Prince Michael I, Paris, and Prince Michael II (I think - the point is, they're silly names). Now I can sympathize for his family, friends, people that knew him well. I understand their grief. But to mourn his death as more than the passing of an icon is just ridiculous. I was really ticked by an away message one of my friends had on her buddy list; it went something along the lines of "Michael, you changed the way I saw music and now you're gone. RIP." Okay, first statement can be true, but what does his death have to do with the fact that he changed the way you appreciate music? Why don't you just aknowledge he impacted your life and that him being gone has nothing to do with that? (Trust me, there'll be a post about bad logic sometime) I just get so upset when people emphasize the death of celebrities. I understand why it needs to be in the news, but I think that comparing him to Elvis (I heard a fan on NPR this morning) is just ridiculous. Conclusion: Call me heartless, but Michael Jackson, rest in peace and good riddance. Maybe now I don't have to hear about your next molestation or plastic surgery. And RIP Farrah Fawcett and Ed McMahon.