'Tis the Season of Kris Kringle, and I'm Ready to be Kidnapped to the North Pole

I'm still AliiivEEEEEE 😝😝😝

I feel so successful. I haven't used my heater since the start of December, and I have gotten into a routine. I know what sweater is the warmest and which socks I prefer; at this point, I could probably outlive Bear Grylls!

I'm still not sure what type of heater I'm using, though. I took off the grill and tried to find a label, but there wasn't any visible. I even went so far as to try to take the motor of the heater (motor?), out of the *socket* in the wall, but there were screws that were at angles (who designed this??) and I wasn't about to unscrew something that I could screw back in without a drill.

One thing that has continuously tripped me up is the fact that I keep forgetting to unplug my charging cables.

To be honest, though, I'm not too pressed about that. I'll chalk it up as an area where I have "room to grow" ;) we all make mistakes, so really there's no one to blame..........

After all, according to James Clear's "How Long Does it Actually Take to Form a New Habit? 
(Backed by Science)" article, even if I make mistakes from time to time, that won't have an impact on my habit-forming process. His cited a study by the European Journal of Social Psychology, where they found that "it takes more than 2 months before a new behavior becomes automatic." If that's the case, then I have been consistently not using my heater for 3 weeks. It has been relatively easy; the only barriers are that it is incredibly cold.

However, this was easily fixed. All I had to do was dress like I was going skiing and bingo! it's sleepy time.

Subject change: any interesting facts that would make this project crazy?

Sure! Take a look at this info pumped super cool Bloomberg article called "How America Uses Its Land". It's fun and action-packed, and it tells you neat things like about 2 million acres of land are used for golf courses, or how the Weyerhauser family owns 2.3% of contiguous timberland in America.

Also, while urban areas only take up 3.6% of the entire nation, 80% of Americans eat, pray, and love there. Basically, urban areas are disproportionally smaller and more populated than rural areas. What does this mean in relation to my project?

One thing I could infer is that urban areas use a ton of electricity compared to rural areas. This is obvious, though, if 80% of the population lives in these cities, of course, they will be using more energy than Farmer Burton in the middle of Nowhere, Kansas.

I read something very interesting in this article, where the director of the U.S. Energy Information Administration's Energy Consumption Division talks urban "heat islands". Urban cities are hotter in the summer, meaning they will use much more energy for air conditioning than rural areas. However, they are still warmer in the winter compared to rural Kansas, so they don't need as much heating.

Ah! Space heating is 15% of total energy consumption!!

The efficiency of urban housing was also a big shocker. Turns out urban houses are more energy efficient but taken as a whole group, spend a lot more on energy. "Urban families as a whole spend at least $30 billion more for energy each year, but each individual urban family actually spends about $200-$400 less," according to the US Energy and Information Administration.

In conclusion, urban areas definitely use more energy, but they are far more efficient at using it.

Ok, that was a cool interlude, now back to me. My room is so cold, I highly doubt that I will continue this habit of not using the heat or lights throughout the entire winter. I'm thinking I will use the heater after this project is over, but not to the same extent as before. I'm aiming for a room that's warm enough to be comfortable, and I will turn off the heater when I'm not in the room. I could 100% do this during the summer, though. Easy.

Alright! Last update for this post: MY ****ING CEILING IS LEAKING!!!!!!

AND IT IS OVER MY BED WHICH MEANS MY BED IS WET BECAUSE MY CEILING IS LEAKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!