Sunbird

@Nathrangking Or when you purposely name your smartphone Internet Fabrial.

Invisible speed bumps. Allow me to explain... Earlier tonight I picked up a bucket of chicken from KFC to bring to a potluck and then ended up driving through an unfamiliar neighborhood on the way to the potluck. This neighborhood was scattered with large speedbumps that I failed to see in time to slow down for, every single time, because they weren't painted yellow or marked in any way to distinguish them from the rest of the road. (It was dark and rainy too, which didn't help either.) So I'd hit them going 25 mph and get a HUGE jolt as my smol car went over a bump almost as wide as the length of the car itself. The KFC bucket ended up tipping over and dumping a few pieces of chicken onto the floor, which got me seriously miffed.

Thanks for the reminder! Are we doing pizza this time, or is it "fend for yourself" in the Cougareat?

@Shqueeves Your wish is my command. *bows elaborately* Male Great-tailed Grackles (a member of the blackbird family) trying to intimidate each other in the McDonald's parking lot (6 photos):

@Silverblade5 Ouch. Understaffing is not cool. Sadly it seems that LOTS of different businesses are making a habit of it.

As promised, birb photos from Saturday! Red-breasted Nuthatches (2 photos and 1 short video): Hummingbirds (2 photos): Northern Flicker and Common Ravens (2 photos): Red Crossbill and Chipping Sparrow (2 photos): I have some more photos of blackbirds being silly in the McDonald's parking lot--puffing themselves up trying to intimidate each other. Y'all wanna see those too?

@Tesh I found it on Amazon and preordered it. Made my day!

@Tesh WoR in normal paperback exists finally?! I've been waiting to buy a hardcopy until I could get a regular paperback, but it's been so long since the original hardcover release that I was convinced it wasn't ever gonna happen...

@Roadwalker Better yet, a goblet made of ettmetal!

@Flash Now I'm imagining the disastrous consequences of building a brass instrument out of harmonium. As soon as a player put their mouth to it, it'd explode. XD

When you have a dream about finding Szeth's Honorblade, abandoned, and becoming a Windrunner.

Finished sorting my photos from Saturday! In case any of you were unaware, Utah's mountains are stunningly beautiful. I took lots of scenery pictures, which is unusual for me; I'm usually so occupied with the birds and the flowers and the butterflies that the landscape doesn't catch my eye enough to spend time photographing it. Not this time! Mountain scenery (5 photos): Berries and wildflowers (4 photos): Two butterflies and a grasshopper (3 photos): I think I'm going to save the bird pictures for a separate post, because this one has a dozen large photos already.

That is THE BEST.

I understand it, but I want to know where it came from and the surrounding context! That quote is too bizarre to just drop it in here with no explanation.

???

When you start talking to your mom about your cousin named Brandon, and she assumes at first that you're talking about Brandon Sanderson because he's the Brandon you talk about most often.

I drove up to the top of a mountain to look for birds yesterday and was very happy with my trip. The weather was GLORIOUS. Still sorting through my 250 photos, but here is a suuuuuper cropped picture of a Golden Eagle for y'all: Funny story: When I saw the eagle, I thought it was a Red-tailed Hawk, until I got home and blew up my photos on the larger screen of my PC. That's what I call a pleasant surprise!

When you recognize all these as references to Steris's obsessive planning.

I prefer my Kindle for the portability and ease of carrying a whole library with me, but I still buy plenty of "real" books to get them signed or to finish out a series that I've already bought the first few in paper. Maps and illustrations are easier to look at in physical books, so that's a minus for the Kindle.

It changes according to your upvote total. There's a list/chart somewhere; lemme grab the link for you. Reputation Level Chart (part of the 17th Shard Discussion subforum)

Started rereading Words of Radiance yesterday

@Briar King I've found wolf spiders in my basement before, so yes, it happens.

When you have a dream that your mom made chouta for dinner, except you didn't get any because your brother ate it all and then you're mad at him.

@Delightful

Some more photos from Antelope Island! I gotta tell you guys about some funny little water birds called phalaropes. (The singular form has 2 correct pronunciations: fuh-LAIR-uh-pee or FAL-uh-rope.) They're super cute for a couple of reasons: 1) They're really little and kinda hyperactive. 2) They have this unique feeding strategy where they swim in a tight, fast circle to create a mini-whirlpool that stirs up bugs and crustaceans and stuff for them to eat. The flock of 100+ that I was watching at Antelope Island had at least half of them doing that all at the same time, and it was really funny to watch. (Skip to about 00:30 in the video below--which is not mine, BTW--to see a large group of them "spinning" together.) My photos of the phalaropes from Antelope Island (3 pictures): Next up, a few "creepy crawlies." A dragonfly and a grasshopper (2 photos): WARNING: Spider pictures under this next spoiler! (2 photos)