Poetry Part 2

Here are the rest.

The Ant
A grass jungle
Obstacles and danger
Now don't be humble
You are the bush ranger
Follow that chemical scent
Traverse the concrete desert
You’re hell-bent
To find that crumb of life.

Woman on Top
Movement
Like a feline
Improvement
My fingers up and down your spine
Shiver, ecstatic
Spermatic
Watching every move on your face.

Flexible
Yank! All of my might
My tug 'o war with life
Its rope is thick
Very hard on my grip
Tossed to and fro'
I've lost my mojo
If I stand firm, danger, I'll break
Better to bend, like a willow in the wind.

Bourbon & Coke
Bourbon Cokes
Nectar of the Gods

It’s a thirst quenching master stroke
Now don’t be tightwads

Rocks of ice
Submerged or float

Paradise
Soon melt down the throat

Let’s all drink to our health
And celebrate a sunny day

There's no wealth
But that's ok, let's play!

Ginseng Tea
Digging the rare ginseng root out of the ground
Remarkable resemblance to man
You know it takes six years for that root to mature
Better not rush the drying process
And destroy its life giving properties
Inhaling the wonderful pungent aroma
Drinking and tasting its distinctive flavour
You'll live to be 100.

Poetry Part 1

I wrote these poems back in 2005. I would catch the bus everday and head to work and over the course of a year, I was inspired to write on my observations of everyday activity and what was going on in my head. But once that year was over, I simply didn't write anymore...

Just realised that blogger has a word limit.  When you post in excess and preview the post, it comes up blank - hence why I need to post as Poetry Part 2.

Journey
Kelvin once said to me
How long does it take to crawl a mile?
It’s a long slow distance, hurts
Especially on all fours
You would be tired,
The 4 minute barrier is unthinkable
You are better off running
And what is this imperial distance anyway?

Who would name their baby Kelvin?
As a first name, seems to me its all about absolute zero
Nothing moves at that temperature
Not even time or thought, past, present, future
The 4 minute barrier has become eternity
Still, motionless
Exhausting
Waiting
To crawl a mile.

Anchor
Such a powerful motivator is
The designer Anchor
A simple crossing of your fingers
When a performance went well
Now the stomach is knotted with butterflies
Re-live that scene
And activate that Anchor
To perform once more at your best.

Coffee Call
Instant at home - black no sugar
Plunger in town
Percolated at work
Short black never lasts long enough
Long black.....
Vanilla flavoured makes me sick
Liqueur only after dinner
Tried eating coffee beans
As an antidote to a hangover
Cappuccino, flat white, latte or decaffeinated don’t make the grade
Milk shake disgusting, iced not much better But a 4 litre tub of ice cream - alright!
Will always go back to a mug size or two of Turkish.

Girl
Every afternoon
My heart skips a beat
Sitting on the bus
Is a beautiful girl
With a flower in her hair.

Naked Neck
That curve
Smooth and soft
To kiss her naked neck.

Wobbly Courage
Suddenly woke
Anxious, reached for next to nothing
Cold

I cried out, really a croak
Daunting
This cruel blindfold

Get up, slowly
Pain in spirit
Body follows

Wobbly
Courage now, deliberate
Fly Apollo.

Revenge
Seek revenge
Bittersweet taste
But heed the advice
A Chinese Proverb
Better dig two graves
One for your enemy and one for yourself.

Darkness
My vision
I see dark long hair
And am in collision
With large lagoon eyes in despair

Pain mixed with sadness
Deep and hollow
There's kindness
But I just can't follow

Regret and fear
I look to past time
In this atmosphere
To commit a crime

Anger and sorrow
Tears of rage
Got to borrow
But can't disengage

Those lagoon eyes
Hopeless
Tried to ratify but misapplied
Warmness.

Friday!
Such a struggle sometimes
To get through the week
Between-times
Let’s all take off in a caïque

A mathematical brainteaser
Called Sudoku
Just can’t do it in the freezer
While eating tofu

Even drinking coffee
Doesn’t soften the blow
And licking too much Toffee
Swear I saw a UFO.

Finally!
Friday is here
Leisurely
I’m drinking beer.

Lips
Sweet taste, lips creasing
Your creases lock onto mine
Lips move, new ones form
Now slick with saliva
Hunger
Explore
Need air
Part with regret.

Integrating Mindmaps with Slideshare: How?

The Sports Coaching Pedagogy Unit at the University of Canberra has 3 assessment items as part of the overal grade and the above mind map addresses the 2nd assessment item, the presentation which is a literature review on any topic of interest relating to sport.  It is worth 30% of the final grade.

I chose the topic of 'what motivates the motivators'.  Each branch addresses the definition of motivation and the various research literature surrounding motivation of coaches and athletes.  Its fascinating stuff!

The mindmap appears daunting on first view but its quite simple; there are 6 main branches radiating out from the central image and you follow these along to the child and sibling branches.  I created this map on the iPad using iThoughtsHD.

A requirement of assessment item 2 is that the format is uploaded and should be compatible with Slideshare.  After much head scratching and racking my brains, I haven't been able to find a way to upload the map such that a user will click on the Slideshare url, press play and have each slide open up as single topic branch along with a voice over.  I can certainly upload it and have the map display on one slide but this is not ideal.  So what CAN be done?

• Use iThoughtsHD hooked up to a HDMI compatible projector or TV which will then display the whole map on the screen.  You can then scroll around on the iPad, zoom, shrink etc and show up nicely on the large screen.  Disadvatage is that you have to be present in the room to make the presentation.
• Use the latest version of  iMindmapHD from ThinkBuzan on the iPad which I have installed.  This app has a presentation feature which allows you like iThoughtsHD to hook up the iPad and present on the screen.  However, unlike iThoughtsHD, you press play on the app and each time you tap on the screen, a branch will dispay on screen allowing you to make your presentation.  You can go back and forth as you like.  Disadvantage is that you have to be present in order to make the presentation.
• Use the Mindmanager app on the iPad (I have this as well!) but like the previous two, it has those shortcomings.  Or, use Mindmanager software on the PC or Mac, create your map and then use the export to Power Point feature which will create each branch as a powerpoint slide.  Thats pretty decent, but the software is way too expensive at US$399 for an electronic download.  So that's out.

So what is left?  I have a several options: go with the iThoughts app, display it on a large screen, scroll using the iPad, record the video clip and then afterwards do a voice over.  Or, use the iMindmapHD presentation feature, record the video clip and then do the voice over.  I could as I mentioned above, upload the map onto a single slide on Slideshare and do a 15min recording voice over explaining my literature review findings.  Or abandon the whole thing and create the power point slides and do the voice over.

I've posted a question over at the Slideshare Forums.

Thanks for reading!