Don’t anybody panic — I haven’t been fired, died or anything like that.

I’m on maternity leave, technically starting on Monday, but really starting last week. No baby in sight, by the way. I’m due May 8 and it’s still hangin’ on to its warm, comfortable and dark home.

I’m not sure what I’ll do with this blog — it’s possible one day it’ll just disappear, taken down by the powers-that-be. (I hope that doesn’t happen). For now, I’m going to keep it active and will try to write every once in a while (though I haven’t been doing a very good job, have I?).

I’ve changed my Twitter name to @KateDubinski (from @KateatLFPress) and taken off the LFP logo from my avatar, ’cause that makes me feel less bound to the completely self-imposed rules of a newspaper employee tweeting. I don’t think I can stay off Twitter for a full year.

This whole thing is really an experiment because I, reluctant four years ago to even sign up for Twitter, have come to love it, so we’ll see what happens when I don’t have to do it for work, but want to do it for personal stuff. Follow me, check back here every once in a while, or forget about me until May 2012, when I’ll be back at work.