That was one of the most profound things I ever heard! Now it really doesn’t matter to me since I  believe in neither god nor the devil, but it doesn’t change how funny the statement was.

I feel it might be time to sell my soul once again….

This is my quote and I own it. I have no idea what it means but I just came in from a run (perhaps you felt the Earth shaking?) and it has been stuck in my head the whole time.

To BoMR (Both of My Readers): Does this mean anything to you?

Daddy, the first day I knew was October 31st. I remember it because I didn’t know any days before that.

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I hope it rains because then it will be snowing.

Did you mean that you hope it snows?

I think I learned of mind-mapping (I assume it was called Brainstorming at the time) years ago. I remember enjoying the process of problem-solving without needing to stop to self-edit or spend too much time thinking about things. I essentially, allowed my brain to free up while my hands merely followed along for the ride. It was liberating though I don’t think I had any epiphanies.

I wasn’t thinking about much except for trying to find out more excuses not to write. The running gag in the house is that I am always “begining to get ready to start doing something.” In the old office analogy, I was very good at rearranging pencils. Since, I cannot rearrange my keyboard without making me even more confused, I have replaced the rearranging with surfing the internet on a quest to find “The Perfect Novel Writing Tool.” Amidst downloading everything from YWriter to NewNovelist to signing up for online word processors, like Writely, I would do anything to not write out of fear.

Well the fear of writing has been replaced by the fear of not writing and so it was time to get serious. Just as I was about to turn away from my distractions, I was distracted by this article. My life will never be the same again.

Installation was a breeze and I followed a couple of links to remind myself what mind mapping was. Once that was done, I quickly glanced at the Help documents and was on my way. I have never used other mind-mapping sowftware but really felt that I was on to something with FreeMind. I began with my novel. I have been struggling with figuring out which direction things should go. When you begin with FreeMind, the first thing you realize is that the “nodes know.” The nodes are what it is all about. The nodes are the groups, branches or forks that make up your mind-map. You create them by hitting Insert or Enter depending on where you are on the tree.

Within minutes, I was creating a functional, practical and very beautiful mind-map. I got used to the keyboard shortcuts very quickly. The reality is that if you are going to be brainstorming, you need to have a way to get stuff onto “paper” as quickly as possible. Your brain is moving so fast that if you had to stop and click, all the juicy bits of consciousness slips into nothingness.

The problem was that I really do not feel that I was brainstorming. I found myself spending a lot of time wondering how to place all the pieces together and I never got used to formatting the text or colors without using the mouse. This made me spend too much time in a state of “not-brainstorming” combined with stewing over whether a node edge should be cyan or deep green.

What I ended up with was a beautiful mind-map of my novel. In the center was the title “The Son of His Father” and the major nodes were plot, new directions, voice and tools. The plot section is generally a description of where I want this book to go. New Directions was a free-for-all, true brainstorming session of different ideas from a simple story of unrequited love to a Cold War Era Russian invasion…anything goes. Voice was simply a debate I was having over what voice to use in the novel and tools was filled with all those various time-wasters I have been downloading lately.

I understand FreeMind can export into XML for display on the web. Way cool, but I have not tried it…yet.

So, in conclusion, I am not sure of the psychology of mind-mapping; clearly it is designed for people who need this style of problem solving. Others may find it pointless. As for this minute, I am my allegiance is to FreeMind as it was my first.

Now to find more free writer’s tools…oh wait, I am supposed to be writing!

A morning without coffee is like sleep.

I admit that I am a coffee snob. I don’t have two pennies to rub together but I subscribe to a monthly delivery of Gevalia Cofee. Not only is this a great way to get a free coffee maker out of the deal, but it truly is superior coffee. At precisely 5 AM, my coffee maker comes to life just before I do and grinds and then brews my coffee. My taste buds are so refined that I can distinguish between the pure joy of my morning brew and the utter swill in my cafeteria at work.

On that rant, I wanted to “espress” two of my biggest pet peeves regarding coffee:

1. The heavenly infusion of fine ground coffee and hot water under pressure is called “ESPRESSO”, it is not “expresso.” Someone working in a coffee shop actually corrected me and said that is how it is pronounced in English. WHAT!?
2. When I am paying nearly two dollars at Starbucks for two ounces of liquid, please do not automatically assume that I wanted it “to go” and put it in a 12 ounce paper cup! You might as well spit in a glass and give it to me. At the two local Starbucks, I have walked in and clearly and cheerfully asked for a “for-here doppio” (double-shot of espresso in a porcelain demitasse) and they proceed to brew it into the paper cup. Can you stop and listen to me? This is not a 20 ounce chug of coffee that I am going to stroke all day and reheat in a microwave everytime the temperature drops below a certain temperature (insert wretching sounds here). This is something that I want to drink while walking out the door. By the time I get to the front of the store, I want to drop off the demitasse in that black tub where patrons put their used glassware (don’t get me started on the need to bus our own table). It is very simple since THAT IS WHAT THE WORD ESPRESSO MEANS – FAST!

I understand that in the grand scheme of things, when the universe begins to collapse on itself, my little rant about coffee will not mean that much but neither will reading about it in my blog.

Thanks for listening.

“I had to throw away my leftover eggroll because it was a fried shrimp.”

]]> http://www.cafeleone.net/2006/10/06/another-quote-of-the-day/feed/ 0 http://www.cafeleone.net/2006/08/13/my-quote-of-the-day/ http://www.cafeleone.net/2006/08/13/my-quote-of-the-day/#comments Sun, 13 Aug 2006 22:30:42 +0000 danleone http://www.cafeleone.net/blog/?p=16

My Atheism is way better than anything you can imagine.

“My squishy pillow is so squishy that it is not so squishy anymore and that makes me sad.”