I'm mostly skimming around (to be very honest, since I don't really have the time to follow both Bitches and Natter, I'm just skimming and sucking for posts of few people I remember and miss and want to know how they are doing from time to time).
So first, Liese, I'm very sorry for you loss. ita and Dana, I hope you'll both feel better soon.
Now, remember how I said two seconds ago that I'm skimming Natter like whoa? I started saying it because sometimes I want to say things, and then it seems to me like I'm interrupting/crushing a party. Because in my mind, I was "eavesdropping" and building an opinion for... humm, few minutes/hours/days? But for you people, it seems like I'm coming out of the nowhere. And I'm aware of it.
Now, what I wanted to say is related to the "pushing your luck" notion. First, let me start by saying that I know the relation to work is oh so very different in the U.S. and here (Israel). As an example, sending "thank you" notes after job interviews is beyond bizarre to my understanding of "work". And yet, some of the things you wrote down for pushing your luck, didn't read to me as pushing your luck. They read to me as being human. I don't consider stealing 5-10-15 minutes of web use to yourself at work as pushing your luck - at least not on the same level of not taking life-saving meds or going to life saving tests (and there, yes, I recognize the element of pushing one's luck). I think anyone with internet access at work will, after few weeks tops, use it for a few minutes because it's very much part of life now. I remember an article I read ions ago and opened my eyes, about how there are all these rules, and how it's impossible to follow all of the rules 100% of the time (unless anyone here never j-walked/downloaded stuff from the internet and such), and that a great portion of life actually builds on and counts on individuals' messing up from time to time, because again, it's impossible to follow every rule - and that's a part of what makes us human.
Anyway. I'm just saying that sometimes, it's not pushing your luck. Sometimes slacking off and being nice to yourselves is not just rewarding and necessary in a very demanding world, but also very human. And I probably wouldn't say it to a bunch of random strangers, but Buffistas are some of the most hard working, self demanding people I know.
So give yourself a slack every now and then. If anyone asks/will question it, it's also anthropologically/sociologically approved, and I can give references.