I know how you feel about that hill, I have one that used to murder me. If you ride it enough you'll learn where you're strongest on the hill and where you need to attack it. On mine there is traffic light 1/2 way and I just spin up the hill, it's not so steep yet and I can build some speed. It gets steep past the light and that's where I stand up and leech off the speed I had built up. It felt great to figure it out and not be gasping for air at the top, and now I'll take it with any bike.

just enjoy it. I started my commute to school with 7 miles then made it 9 miles and now it's 10 miles. It takes 30-40 minutes because of the lights, I just kept adding miles as my fitness went up to keep the commute at 30 minutes. It's faster than any car commute to school