Folgers is offering a free sample of their "Gourmet Selections" coffee. This is the second time I've seen this offer, the first time they only had 3 flavors or so, and whatever flavor it was that they sent me was pretty good.

Their selection is a bit bigger now, so I couldn't help myself.. had to request another sample. I think I clicked Creme Brulee. I wasn't really paying attention at the time, I might have just read that one, and not chosen anything.

Here's the link if you want to snag some free coffee: Folgers Gourmet Selections sample
(I added the "source=sparxmind.com" to the link just to try to play with their stats, I don't get anything at all if you click the link, except maybe an odd look on someone's face when they check their incoming links stats)

I recently wached the movie Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer. I liked it, but I've always been a bit of a superhero/comic book geek.. the kind that doesn't actually buy comic books or follow the adventures of superheroes. I am looking forward to the start of season two of Heroes (Sept. 24. Woot!) Anyway, the movie got me thinking about other superheroes, what makes them tick, how they do their thing, and all that.

With the exception of Batman (who I would classify more as a philanthropic-terrorist-vigilante-hero rather than a super-hero) most of the characters that come to mind have some sort of extra (super, if you will) ability. Superman is kind of your catch-all hero as far as powers go: speed, strength, flight, x-ray vision, heat vision, super-hearing, super-vision, super-everything - he does lack invisibility, but oh well. Aquaman.. he can talk to fish, and I think he was a pretty good swimmer, but I'm not well versed in aquatic heroes.

Now, my question to you is, if you could pick ONLY ONE superpower, what would it be? And the second part: if you had to pick EXACTLY TWO superpowers, but you couldn't choose the one that you picked for the first question, what would they be?

It'd be nice to get more than 3 comments on this.

Here are mine -

1 ability: Telekineses - the ability to move things with your mind - this can be loosely used to enable other abilities, like flight (lift yourself up off the ground), super-strength (move a car/building/person with your mind rather than body), invincibility (stopping bullets like Neo in The Matrix), etc.

2 abilities: Super strength and Invisibility. Super strength provides protection against most attacks that a superhero would come across (think bullets bouncing off Superman's chest), and invisibility adds a huge advantage by being able to utilize the element of surprise.. over and over again. It would also be nice if you just wanted to be left alone - no one's going to be able to bug you if they can't find you. (Cell phones should be turned off while invisible.)

Recently there have been some changes, not just to the sparxMind blog, but also to myself. Some are noticeable, some.. not so much.

The Design

I've created a custom theme rather than using one of the deafult "oh, I've seen this blog before" type designs. I posted about this before, but at the time, the design wasn't quite finalized. I strove for a design that was clean, easy to follow, easy on the eyes, and most importantly - attractive. With some comments and suggestions from spudart, I was able to move very close to what I was envisioning when I had started. There are still some things that need tweaking, and a few minor layout quirks that I need to fix, but I think I'm happy with this look for my web presence.

Sort of in the redesign category, but different enough to warrant a line break ;-).. advertising. I'm still using the google adsense ads across the site, but their emphasis and positioning has changed. Over the last few days the "targeted" ads have been almost humorously absurd and offensive, so I've begun looking at the content of the ads delivered almost as a game. The goal is not so much to make money from advertising, but more just to recoup the costs of hosting. This hasn't happened. Not at all. The out of pocket costs are minor, but it would be nice to have this thing be self sustaining, and maybe even pay for a latte or two.

The Posts

The whole "1 post a day" thing has been daunting at times. But I've managed to stick to it. Sure, some of the posts are a bit lacking, but I'm still getting back into the flow of blogging. My previous blog was easier, since it was basically a journal, but I'm trying to keep a lot of those aspects out of these posts, because that can quickly turn into a downward self-deprecating spiral. To help combat any lack of inspiration that may come up, I've added a "Reader Requests" post (there's a link at the top of every page) where anyone can suggest topics or ideas that they would like me to post about. I make no guarantees, I may combine, twist, or not even use suggestions, but if you've got an idea, you have nothing to lose by requesting it.

The sparx

The personal stuff.. this whole quest for happiness and a better understanding of myself has almost completely turned my way of thinking upside down. I don't think it's really noticeable, but I'm looking at just about everything in a different (a hopefully better) way. Things ARE more enjoyable. Stress IS easier to cope with. I AM having more fun. But, I think most importantly, I'm feeling more obligated to make a difference and try to make things better. The world, the lives of people around me, my life, there's no reason not to seek to make a positive change.

I'm also feeling more creative. Or maybe more drawn to create things. I want to start drawing again, but in the past I've always been way too critical of myself. Even when I received feedback along the lines of "Wow! That's really good" I couldn't accept it, part of me refused to believe that it was actually genuine and that it was just being said for the sake of being nice and unoffensive. I don't think I've completely gotten rid of that mindset, so I'm apprehensive, but it will happen again. Hopefully soon.

I've also recently (as of Friday) developed an interest in robotics. I think it would be a fun hobby - something that would actually take my skills and interests into account. I think I'm going to run with that idea. I'm wishing myself luck.

"It is known that there is an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the product of a deranged imagination."

-Douglas Adams

These are the bands that I saw play tonight:

1. Sunspot - Local band (Madison, WI).. I love these guys
2. Cowboy Mouth
3. Sick Puppies
4. Shoeless Revolution - Local band (La Crosse, WI - I think)
5. The Flaming Lips

I took some video and pictures with my phone. I doubt there's anything salvageable, but just in case, I'll write up a follow up post and include them.

It was a good Saturday.

The Secret
Imagine if you could have anything you wanted.. without having to do anything. What if all you had to do was think about what you want, and it would happen? Would you write a book about it, and maybe become somewhat successful while letting others in on this big secret that's been kept from you all your life? I wouldn't. I'd be two hours from this place, curled up on the couch with the girl I love. Books, money, fame? Bah. BAH I say.

But, just for the sake of pretending we're still imagining, what if someone were to write this book? What if someone made a video about it? What if bloggers started writing posts about this magical new way to live your life? What if every sentence in this paragraph ended with a question mark?

I'll tell you what would happen - you'd have a lot of people that are looking for something more in their life reading it, hearing about it from their friends. You'd have an epidemic of false hope being spread amongst people that do not need any more "gurus" misleading them.

You would have a sparx that was annoyed by all of it.

The Truth
There's no "quick fix" in life, no "big secret" that's keeping us from being happy.

That being said, I will acknowledge the validity of part of the "law of attraction." It is important and powerful to actively think about your goals. I agree that to get what you want, you need to focus on it. You need to think about it as much as possible, imagine yourself with whatever it is you want and wherever it is you want to be.

I *DO NOT* think that just by thinking about it, that 'the universe' or 'god' or 'purple unicorns' will magically work towards making it happen. To believe anything like that just seems like another way to pass off the responsibility for who/where/what you are. That's not right. If you spend all your time thinking about a goal, YOU will work towards making it happen, YOU will put yourself in situations that will be conducive to your thoughts.

So, this puts me in a position where I'm a bit torn. On the one hand, I think the stuff that is being tossed around about the magical manifestation of thoughts is a bunch of BS. BUT, if it can get people to focus more on what they want, and they start bringing more positive things into their own life, does it really matter what the fairy tale behind the method is? Oh wait, people are making money off of this - yeah, they're evil. That's an easy one.