The heat is not on

I was thinking more in terms of work - meaning the pressure - the pressure is not on at work. But now that I mention it, the heat actually isn't on - meaning the heat in my condo. For those of you who were following the story last year - you know that I never turned the heat on last year. Well, it seems I won't need it this year either. It's just this weird thing about my condo - it's always 70-72 degrees no matter what. If it's 50 out like today - then it's 72 in here. If it's 0 out - like last week - then it's 70 in here. I'm not sure why actually - maybe it is well insulated or something. The condos are concrete - the walls, the ceilings (you can't hear anything either between units). I have a condo above and below me and on either side of me - but one whole wall is floor to ceiling windows. I wonder if the neighbors have their heat on? It just seems like I would need the heat, a little. But, nope. I am sure that I won't. My gas bill, it's only $11 a month. When I don't cook (and I only microwave food) - it's about $3.50.

On the work front - no heat their either. I'm one of those people that works well (better?) under pressure - and there just hasn't been any since October. So - given that - I've made the decisions I need to make about the rest of the year (billable year) - I've decided to coast my way to the minimum hour requirement. I was actually on track for 150 hours over, but I lost the cushion over the holidays. Now, if I just bill an easy 160 per month - I'll hit the minimum and that's totally acceptable. It's really just a question of what your time is worth - and given that I can only get up to an extra 5% per every 100 hours over the minimum - I have deemed it not worth the effort. Why work extra hard for something unknown when I could coast for the next 4 months? If I knew I got 5%, I might do it, but what if I only get 2% - in that case I will wish I had gone home. Of course if the work is there, I'll do it, but if it isn't - or if I have to take projects I don't really want that I can decline - I might as well go home and have my free time.

Plus, I need to write an article to be published in some upcoming publications on a recent project that I did/am doing, there is a conference that I want to go to in April, and I fully intend to take some days off to go to Boston (soon I hope) to see my brother - and I might take another short trip or two. So, while I feel guilty, as I noted in my earlier post - I'm just going to get over it and enjoy not being as busy (watch - now something will happen and I'll end up swamped).

I have noticed that when the pressure goes down, my motivation goes with it and suddenly I'm half as efficient and have a hard time concentrating - so hopefully it will pick up just a little.