Well, here it is: the bird cage lining I’ve been slaving away at for the past two months. I uploaded the files for issue 154 to the printer today. And the printer was nice enough to send me a confirmation email: “Your file has been uploaded and a notification has been sent to your sales rep.”

The first thing that jumps to mind as I read the e-mail is, “Shouldn’t there be some sort of punctuation between ‘uploaded’ and ‘and?’ Sounds like a compound sentence to me.” (I admit that I don’t actually know. I leave that smart person stuff to Carol.)

But the second thing that comes to mind is, “Couldn’t you at least hint at a tone a little more celebratory? Would it hurt to offer a smidgen of praise? I’d be content with something simple like, ‘We at the printing company are marveling at this magnificent work you have delivered into our unsuspecting hands. We can only conjecture how many lives will be blessed by the obvious genius and labor that went into this exquisite production. Thank you for hallowing our presses with your magazine.’”

At the end of a publishing cycle, my office is a fire hazard. Paper stacked in every corner and nook. Bills hiding beneath them. Doleful e-mails queued in my inbox, sandwiched between spam messages that promise “Signs that she’s good in Bred.” Rogue files burning and pillaging my once orderly desktop. Cats who remember that in days gone by their bowl contained food — dry and beneath contempt as it was.

If you haven’t subscribed to Sunstone yet, you might as well start now while you can get in on the ground floor of our popular Book of Mormon comic book series (included in every single issue of Sunstone since 153!). This issue features the beginning of the multi-part “Land of Nephi” saga, telling the story of Zeniff, King Noah, Abinadi, and all the trouble they get into.

Plus, we have some great articles and fiction for you to chew on. For example, did you know that Reform Judaism in the United States spawned a hymnist/poet much like Eliza R. Snow, and at about the same time? Did you know that a Mormon presidential candidate would actually have an easier time getting votes in ancient Anthens than in the contemporary United States?

All this and more awaits you for the price of a value meal at McDonalds’ — supersized.