The joy of newspapers

I've been working the night shift for going on five years now (yikes, that makes me feel a bit old), and I've gotten used to the schedule of going to bed when I'm tired, getting up whenever I feel like it and doing whatever I want until 3:30 p.m.

But my schedule has been rudely interrupted this week by a malfunctioning piece of equipment that has forced me to show up early for work every day this week (actually only since Wednesday, but it feels much longer). 

Granted, my definition of early is at odds with what most normal people would consider burdensome. Having to be to work at 11 a.m.? I used to have to be at high school by 7:50 a.m. But that was a long time ago, and being ready to work at 11 a.m. now requires a huge effort – and a well-set alarm clock. 

On the plus side, this temporary schedule change has helped me realize some benefits of working during the day. My favorites so far, in no particular order:

1. Heading home from work while the sun is still shining. It makes me feel like I still have a whole day ahead of me.

2. Happy hour specials. Enough said.

3. Better TV viewing options. Morning/afternoon television is dominated by crap like "The Price is Right," soap operas and "The View." So, even though the quality of primetime television is debatable, it's still a definite improvement over the daytime landscape.

4. Time to cook. It's not that I don't have time to cook on a normal day – I just don't have the motivation. I wake up, waste some time surfing the Internet/watching cable news channels, work out, and then it's time to get ready for work. Lunch is usually a frozen burrito or cereal and a couple spoonfuls of cottage cheese. But when you're home at 6 p.m. and you're hungry, you might as well cook something decent. Like last night, I decided to whip up some chipped beef, just because I thought it sounded good. Turns out, it was good. But I would never make it during the day – way too much effort.