We had a snow pool at work- and no, unfortunately, it is not actually a pool with snow in it. Although, the thought did cross my mind before it rummaged around and found the real explanation.

I was looking for a picture of snow in kiddie pool and I found baby elephants in a kiddie pool. Much better!

You could pay a quarter for each guess you made on what day the first snow would fall. There were rules as to how many guesses you could make, etc. On Friday, as I was getting to work there was something resembling tiny snowflakes, but it was more like rain than snow. It lasted an hour and then was just cold and a little damp outside the rest of the day. This was called as the "first snow" by the snow pool organizer.

There were so many unhappy people in the office, and a lot of argument over what constitutes snow and whether it was fair to have a winner since there wasn't any on the ground. There was a lot of discussion, wasting a lot of time, and I'm convinced it was merely done to avoid work.

All of this is leading somewhere, I promise. I was warming up my lunch at work after the "snowfall" and one of my co-workers came in to get his lunch from the fridge. He then stood in the kitchen, removed his black work shoes, pulled a pair of snow pants out of a bag and put them over his slacks and then pulled on some heavy-duty hiking shoes. I looked at him, oddly I'm sure, and he explained he was walking over to Ferdinand's for ice cream. Ferdinand's is about a three to five minute walk from our office. There was no snow on the ground, it was barely damp and it wasn't even very cold. I'm still a little confused.

This co-worker seems to do this to me sometimes. Just when I think I have figured him out he goes and pulls snow pants out of his bag. It does make for an interesting work day. I never know what he will say or do next. It's kind of exciting. Perhaps, I should keep a little notebook of his eccentricities and share them here with you. Then it will be as though you were all at work with me- making spreadsheets and editing training manuals.

Although I have had strong feelings about them before, it wasn't until my mother called and stirred up the rage in me that I thought I would post my feelings on the Twilight series books. First of all, let me preface this by saying that I have read the first three books. Curiosity and my inner desire for them to improve drove me to it, but I just couldn't get myself to finish the whole series.

That being said, I want to express my horror that these books have received good reviews from any reviewer who knows anything about good literature. While I admit, the story was at first compelling and entertaining, they are written atrociously, with bad character development, little profluence and negligent editing.

I know the public likes a good underdog story — Stephenie Meyer after all is an LDS mom, just doing what she loves (this is where I stick my finger down my throat and exclaim "gag me"), but these books do not do her any favors. As an LDS woman I truly wanted to root for Meyer, but after I read the books I kind of wish she hadn't advertised her religion. She gives Mormon writers everywhere a bad name.

I have a theory. Meyer's books became popular at first because of LDS women across the nation. They read the books, (by a woman like themselves) and then passed them on to their daughters, who then passed them on to their friends and the cycle began. Shame on you original readers. I hear all the time about how finally there was a PG-13 love story for LDS teens, but mothers, have you truly read the books? The main character, Bella, may not have had sex with her pale and rather uninteresting vampire, but she sure didn't have purity in thought either. Is this really the type of drivel you want your children reading? There are so many amazing books out there and surprise, surprise, you can actually find good teen fiction that isn't written by an LDS author.

The blame for the Twilight phenomenon, or tragedy as I have come to know it, should not entirely be placed on the reader. The world could have been spared from the stilted writing and bad dialogue if the publisher had not been so greedy and the editor of the books had actually given some editorial direction. If I am wrong and in fact, the editor did do their job, then why didn't the books get sent back to Meyer again and again for revision? The only reason to publish books like these before they are fully developed and reworked is to make money. The publisher may have read the story line and with their knowledge of the current market saw a gold mine. The books alone sold like hot cakes, but then there are the movies and posters, action figures and Barbie dolls. It is sad to say that money will triumph over good, solid literature these days.

I will say now that I did not write this post to purposely stir the pot and poke sticks at those who already have their hackles raised over criticism of the books. I simply felt the need to get my opinion on this series out there and just so you know, I am not the only one who feels this way. If you don't believe me just look up the reader reviews on goodreads.com.