Gleek (or the importance of having a FUN mind mapping tool)

My despair didn't last long, thanks to finally giving in to using a mind mapping tool. After 3 years of work, of course I was overloaded with information and couldn't organise my thoughts in a single sheet of paper, as I am used when I write essays and articles.

I avoided as long as I could learning how to use yet another software, but at 7pm today, after spending another day struggling with logical ideas and hierarchies of concepts, I made the call and chose View Your Mind over FreeMind simply because VYM is *really* easy to use. Very importantly, both are free, and run on Ubuntu (in fact I got them in the Ubuntu Software Centre).

Ok, it saved my life. Really. I've always needed to build a conceptual map of my arguments before writing, but it was becoming nearly impossible to do that by hand with that huge amount of information. Every time I had to change one argument I lost track of all the others. It used to be a nightmare... but now it's FUN!

So, "Gravity" no longer in my spirit, just Glee :)

Glee - Don't Stop Believe
Cargado por Bugabookas. - Mira más videos de TV y películas.

Gravity (or C'mon keep me where the light is)

Winter is almost here and I am still struggling with the first chapter. It's probably because I know this chapter means a lot more than just what it is - the first. It sets the tone for the whole lot coming ahead of me. Kind of scary.

Gravity - John Mayer



Gravity is working against me
And gravity wants to bring me down

Oh I'll never know what makes this man
With all the love that his heart can stand
Dream of ways to throw it all away

Oh Gravity is working against me
And gravity wants to bring me down

Oh twice as much ain't twice as good
And can't sustain like a one half could
It's wanting more
That's gonna send me to my knees
[repeat]

Oh gravity, stay the hell away from me
And gravity has taken better men than me (now how can that be?)

Just keep me where the light is
Just keep me where the light is
Just keep me where the light is
C'mon keep me where the light is
C'mon keep me where the light is
Oh... where the light is! [repeat]

Bon Iver

This will probably be my last winter in Barcelona... time to wrap things up - the thesis, but mostly a period of my life that is actually already gone...

let's do it!

Edgar, Dani, let's do it! It's time already...

but you don't look Brazilian!

I always get that look when I say I am from Brazil, accompanied by "but you are so...white". I should be used to it by now. Here in Spain people probably think that I should look like Ronaldinho or Sonia Braga. And that I should be able to pull off wearing a really small bikini. Sorry, can't. Funny thing is that when I was doing my masters in England most people thought the same, although there was a big difference - there I wasn't considered "white" because... I was from Brazil! I had a priori "race". I never understood that - one thing is where I am from, another is the colour of my skin (not that any of that really matters to me, but it seems to matter to others). If here I am not Brazilian enough, in England I was "latina", "latin american", or "hispanic". How do those oppose to "white" or "Caucasian"? Why put culture, place of birth, ethnicity, etc. in the same bag? What is even funnier is that I was actually born in England, but grew up in Brazil. My mother is Israeli, her parents were Polish. My father was born in Brazil, but his parents are Italian. I guess *that* is what makes a Brazilian - the mix. Why does it matter how I look like if I am *telling* you that I am Brazilian?

I am feeling very Brazilian today, so I decided to make two playlists of Brazilian music, one in Spotify, one in Deezer (I found more songs in Spotify, but their service is not available in most countries). No bossa-nova, no carnival music. I started with some samba-rock, traditional samba, a touch of forró and bit of your typical MPB, but always with some groove.

Enjoy!

Discover the playlist Brazilian Groove with Trio Mocoto

who the frak is kara?

It doesn't really matter, I just miss her, I miss Starbuck, I miss her nervous laugh and kick ass attitude. I miss the whole crew at Battlestar Galactica. They became sort of my family twice in the last year. During my 6-week field work in Québec in October/November 2008 I watched the first three seasons of BSG at once. They were my only friends in a pretty, but already too cold city where I didn't know anyone. Back in Barcelona I watched the first half of the fourth season eagerly awaiting for the finale to start in April 2009. Besides the amazing stories about-all-the-grand-themes-of-our-lives being told, I fell completely in love with the soundtrack. Created by Richard Gibbs (the pilot mini-series only) and Bear McCreary, the ethnically-influenced music fits perfectly with the space-opera that BSG is. Anyway, about three months ago finally Dani decided to watch it and I joined in. And again, it became part of my daily routine to philosophize about... why should I kill all the roaches that suddenly invaded our home with boric acid - in a slow genocidal fashion - if I thought humans should peacefully coexist with cylons?(we killed them btw) And now I feel a void, my family is gone again. Well, I'll wait for Caprica and till then, listen to and sing along "...there's too much confusion, I can't get no relief...."

scratching my thesis

Maybe this DJ mouse can help me finish my PhD! DJing my thesis... sounds good!

via digitaldrops