As we ready ourselves for another week of library camp-outs and all-night study sessions, it seems a little too easy for us to be negative. What's the point? We're busy, but so is everyone else, so we have no right to complain.
Given our current train of thought, we've been trying to find something to peg as our little ray of positive sunshine. There's usually something changing for the better, and this week we think we've found it.
Starting this week, Gainesville city buildings are extending hours of operation from the traditional 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. five days a week to the innovative, greener 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. four days a week.
You may not think this change is a big deal, but you can bet that city employees are going to love having three-day weekends all the time. We know how much we love to have our time off extended by Labor Day, Memorial Day and Veterans Day.
Imagine having an extra day off every week; Ginnie Springs would probably make enough money to bail out Wall Street.
The way we see it, the benefits of this change far outweigh the setbacks. Sure, city employees will wake up before the sun rises and will get home too late to watch the afternoon "Seinfeld"-rerun hour, but they'll still be home in time to catch their rerun fix from "Scrubs" and "The Simpsons."
Because everyone who works in City Hall and the Thomas Center (among other city buildings) will have to be at work two hours before most of us have to get to our morning classes, morning rush hour may be downgraded to a morning rush half-hour.
We all know what that means. We'll have more time to sit in line at the McDonald's drive-thru, and there'll be less of a chance of having to lay out some elaborate excuse to our professors explaining our tardiness. Celebratory McMuffins for all.
On Fridays, Gainesville roads may veer from their normal pattern of hellish congestion to a less ulcer-inducing form of traffic.
Archer Road will still be packed with cars, scooters, rickshaws and super-streamlined road bicycles, but maybe the glob of morning commuters will actually be able to gain a bit of momentum as opposed to the roadway stalemate that welcomes the weekend.
Apparently, the biggest upside to the city's hours change has nothing to do with alleviating Gainesville's traffic troubles. According to city spokesman Bob Woods, the city could save about $90,000 a year in heating and cooling costs by closing its office buildings on Fridays.
For those of you non-early birds who weren't sold on this change by our traffic argument, you've got to appreciate the potentially huge savings. There are plenty of other ways to spend $90,000 - like contributing to local childcare centers, which will probably need the money to account for city-employed parents' longer workdays.
We don't wish parents to be away from their kids any longer than they already are, but the extra day at the end of the week should make up for the afternoon family-time hours taken from the first four days of the week.
With three-day weekends and potential savings of about $90,000 on the plus side of this change, we doubt we'll be able to maintain our sourpuss status for the entire week, though our classes undoubtedly will provide a challenge.
