love the portrait of Bartleby, and damn but you're beautiful, bonny.

Seriously, on both. bonny, your eyes in particular are stunning. And Bartleby is so handsome and smart-looking.

I would get 4-6 weeks paid maternity (not sure which) and can take longer unpaid before I would lose my benefits. I’ve never looked into it, but since most of the female faculty have had babies in the last five years, I should probably ask one of them. I am mildly curious.

ETA: Lovely tat! Lovely lady! Cutie-face dog!

I am packed, and have decided on costume for Saturday.

The black velvet skirt Jilli sent with the pink striped cincher looked much more streamlined with the tight, off the shoulder black velvet top I am wearing under the cincher, although I love my ballgown skirt. K and I agreed it was more aesthetically pleasing, and the pink looks better on me the than the red. I am EXTREMELY boobtastic in the cincher! I haven't aired the girls out this much in a looooong time.

I will have neon pink fishnets, but warm socks and my Frye boot knock-offs: it'll be a cold night, I'll be walking and standing and dancing till all hours.

My hair is very red; I will have eye makeup that will match the color of the peacock ornament in my hair, and lots and lots of iridescent glitter and peacock colored facial jewels.

I'll be wearing smonster's necklace, and either a pair of large green chandelier earrings or the black ones smonster sent; I suspect I'll make up my mind after my make-up and hair are done.

It'll be cold, but I'm taking my great-aunt's cream tweed cape from the 60's, and a pink pashmina and cream chamois opera gloves I've had for 16 years and worn once.

Erin, dressed by Buffistas. I feel very Cupcake Goth inspired, with the black and the pink!

It should be FUN, and the friend we're staying with is a philosophy professor and has wifi, so I should be able to work on some things Friday, and post pix!

I'm very excited! The day ran away from me.

bonny, did I tell you I loved the tat? I can't remember, and am frazzled.

ChiKat, the black and red corset is gorgeous, and it suits K.'s outfit and figure admirably -- she HAD to try it on. Is it all right if she wears it? It will return in pristine condition! K doesn't drink, and she's very conscientious. I would wear both corsets if I could!

Australia just started offering paid parental leave this year, up to 18 weeks at the minimum wage.

Nodding and pointing about all the health insurance stuff. I truly believe that lack of universal healthcare is the biggest barrier to entrepreneurship in this country.

I agree completely. Seriously, I had decent health coverage when I was in the US, and the amount of crap I had to deal with just on the administrative side was ridiculous. (My personal peeve: how the hell can you be covered for seeing only some medical practitioners?)

My old university did not have maternity leave. At one point, they would not allow you to take sick leave (even if you'd had a c-section!). So, basically, people just worked around it. Supervisors would look the other way when people put in for sick leave, as long as they exhausted their vacation. That's some BS, lemme tell ya. I told the General Counsel that they better clear that shit up before I had a kid, or there would be problems! And by problems, I mean a lawsuit.

A while ago I read an article in which the author started off by discussing some British books they'd read. They remembered reading about people who started businesses that operated on a shoestring, or went freelance, etc., and having a nagging feeling that something didn't fit. Then the realization hit - these people weren't agonizing over leaving jobs because they didn't have to worry about losing health care coverage. The article went on to point out how many people might either start small businesses or go freelance if they didn't have to worry about what would happen if they didn't have employer-provided health insurance.

ChiKat, the black and red corset is gorgeous, and it suits K.'s outfit and figure admirably -- she HAD to try it on. Is it all right if she wears it?

Absolutely! Have a great time!!

I'm leaving in a few! Largest Masonic temple in world is site: 7 floors of music, art, performance, burlesque, dancing and debauchery!

I may be a leetle debauched, but the people-watching will be AMAZING. And some good band playing! theatrebizarre.com

Thank you, ChiKat, Jilli and smonster for helping me!

I, umm, may have just snapped at someone's here's friend on Facebook for delusional, misleading statements about socialized medicine. Maybe.

But, dude. WRONG ON THE INTERNET. And clearly lacking the reading comprehension to read the article he'd linked.

Also, and as well, too, to rant further away from BC's personal space, I've experienced wait times like that down here, with killer coverage, and not in the literal sense of the word killer.

And Canada has a bloody military. No, seriously. It does. Please try to tell the families of the thousands of Canadians in Afghanistan RIGHT NOW that the US keeps Canada safe from harm and pays for all its military needs. Tell that to the war vet who lives up the street from my Aunt Olive. Tell that to my Grandfather, who signed up in WWII (and got stuck stationed in country, due to being in his late 30s and having 5 kids under the age of 10, but anyhow).

Can I deprogram him? Please?

Erin, I am so excited for you!! I hope it's a blast. Glad I could help out a bit.