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Garbage Mosaic
Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo

Garbage
Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo

While listening to a podcast this morning I noticed that the “Album Art” in iTunes was a mosaic of a photo that I was quite familiar with, which inspired this effort, my first photo mosaic. After a very quick search I randomly selected AndreaMosaic as the first tool I’d try. It’s easy to use, fairly fast and seems to have lots of options to explore for controlling the output. Perhaps I’ll try a few more.

Of course I was working out while listening to the podcast, which is my normal pattern. Get up, head down to my home office/gym, fire up the Daily Source Code, and do a routine of crunches and Bowflex. Well, with the current tennis elbow issues, most arm exercises are currently off my list, so it’s primarily a leg workout. This is good for cross country skiing and keeping in shape for the cycling season. But even holding onto 20lb dumbbells while doing squats aggravates my right arm. I hope I can get this resolved soon, but it’s taking quite a long time so far.

BandIt

Physiotherapy! What kind of therapy were you thinking? After several visits to my MD, with no results for my self-induced weight lifting “Tennis Elbow” injury I called up my physiotherapist Chris and got an appointment. Of course after he heard my story he wanted to know why I waited so long to come and see him and indicated that things were really “messed up” now and the road to recovery might be a long one. But then he proceeded to get on with the treatment.

So, these little BandIt braces will be my buddies for the next who knows how long in addition to various exercises and treatments. So far it’s the braces, anti-inflammatory drugs before bed and first thing in the morning, stretches - palm down on the left and palm up on the right, twist a hammer to the left and right in each hand, and ice as many times as possible for 15 min per elbow, and no lifting or strong gripping for 2 weeks.

I’ll let you know how it goes. So far, the braces are feeling a little weird.

I’m a fan of the Blue Man Group, so after viewing this from a Facebook link, I had to give it a post.

This year I think I’ll take more photographs. One reason is that I’d just like to improve my skills and capture more of life and the other is the sweet new Olympus 790SW that I received for my birthday. Most days, as I leave the house, I’ll slip the camera in my pocket. It’s just so compact that having the camera with you at all times is so convenient. This I believe is Step #1 to working on my photograph - always having a camera at the ready.

Here is a case in point. I was out for a walk yesterday and of course I had the camera in my pocket. I must admit I set out with the idea of taking some pictures on the walk, which I did. But as I returned to the house, down the side of the bay that I normally never travel on, I noticed a huge ramp in a neighbors back yard. The surprising thing was that these folks live across the street from us and I had no idea about this ramp until yesterday.

Back Yard Snowboarder
Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo

Two young guys were working the ramp and this guy was honing his boarding skills. After I took the photo and was walking by I heard him say to the other guy that he was going to try a 360° next. Perhaps I should have hung around to see that!

Anyway, without the camera readily at hand and the mindset to take some new pics, this opportunity would have been lost, and only lived on as a brief memory.

I’m a fan of using mind mapping techniques in brainstorming sessions and for lots of other tasks. I’ve purchased MindManager from Mindjet after seeing a demonstration at a conference. While it has a lot of capability, it’s not inexpensive either. For a lot of the more basic mind mapping activities bubbl.us is very impressive and free, which is generally a good thing.

bubbl.us - free web application for brainstorming online

What is it?
Bubbl.us is a simple and free web application that lets you brainstorm online.

Why use bubbl.us?

Because you can:

* Create colorful mind maps online

* Share and work with friends

* Embed your mind map in your blog or website

* Email and print your mind map

* Save your mind map as an image

And it’s FREE!

UPDATE: It seems there are several good mindmapping web apps out there, and Mind42 doesn’t have advertising. So, how do they make money, and why do they put these kinds of applicaitons out there?

Mind42 - Free Online Mind Map

mind42.com

In Mind42, 42 is not only the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything! 42 means FOR TWO and indicates the collaborative character of mind42, because that is exactly what mind42 is: A collaborative browser-based online mind mapping tool.

It allows you to manage all your ideas, whether alone, twosome or working together with the whole world. As mind42 runs inside the browser, installing mind mapping tools is no longer needed - for a hassle-free mindmapping experience. Just open the browser and launch the application when needed - it behaves like a classical desktop application!

Mind42 is a web application - however, this doesn’t mean yout have to set your comfort aside. Mind42 is a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) mind map editor supporting keyboard shortcuts, drag and drop, zooming and much more. No forms and lists which are generally used in web application. A real application - within your browser.