I love graphical representations of phenomena, even though I have a terrible hand at drawing. I remember how envious I used to be that all four of my brothers were capable of not only drawing beautifully but even painting. I guess my artistic capabilities are mostly motion-based (dancing). Anyway, I digress… the thing is, I can’t draw to save my life.

And why draw by hand if I can do it online? So, this gives you context on the reason why I needed mind mapping software was that I thoroughly enjoy systematizing ideas and creating graphical representations of the projects I’m undertaking. So I threw a lazyweb question on Twitter and requested ideas on freeware for mind mapping.

What follows below is a quick list of the ideas that were provided to me on Twitter and a few hat tips to those who provided them.

- Shane Birley suggested FreeMind (which he uses).

- Alex Shipillo suggested Mind Meister.

- Susheel K suggested Edraw Mind Map.

- Rebecca Coleman suggested FreeMind as well, as she references in her post on how she does mind mapping for her site.

Hat tips and thanks to everyone! Feel free to drop a comment on my site and weigh in on other mind mapping tools.

Related posts:

1. BillingBoss.com [Software review]
2. Being an academic and a blogger – two models, one mind
3. The economics of free or why I won’t do things for free anymore

The other day, my brother needed to print a form, sign it, scan it and send it back in PDF format. Normally, it would take either of us about 45 seconds to do this. However, since Mom refused to get a laser printer or a multi-purpose printer/fax/scanner (she didn’t think she’d need it that much), we have had to visit a few internet cafes. None of which actually had the right equipment.

My Mom’s computer is pretty robust since my brothers A, S and myself made sure she’d have a pretty good system so that she could GMail, GTalk, Skype and do other type of video-conferencing. We also have ensured that she has relatively fast internet (cable). But none of us really thought much about getting her a multi-purpose printer, so when my brother needed the equipment, we didn’t have it and had to scramble to get this done.

Normally, we would have gone to an Office Depot and done that, but in Mexico, internet cafes have proliferated like you have no idea. There is almost one in every corner (well, not quite). There are a couple that are located near my Mom’s house. The thing is, not many of them are very well equipped, and that’s somewhat frustrating.

For example, today I needed to work on a presentation before 9 am. Our internet at home was down, my Mom doesn’t have MS Office and thus I needed to find a net cafe. I found one that has good speed (internet) and printer, and it’s going to cost me, all in all, about $6 dollars Canadian (not taking into account my time) to submit this presentation. Of course, I’ve already read blogs, responded to tweets, responded to emails, etc. So, the cost waas 2 dollars for equipment rental, 3 for printouts and 2 for parking. Plus the cost of gas, and without taking into account my time. GRRRR. I NEED MY EQUIPMENT!

And because of that, we are going to go buy a multi-purpose printer this week. Simply because we don’t like to depend on someone else to get our stuff done. And no, I didn’t bring my laptop (which is also frustrating). So I don’t have the equipment to insert references into my journal articles, nor do I have STATA or SPSS, nor any of my other software. GRRR. I need my MacBook Pro!

Related posts:

1. It’s all about the equipment!
2. It’s all about the equipment! – Weekend Edition
3. It’s all about the equipment – installment 4