Today was just another example of how I can get way off track playing around with a new tool or a new idea on the web.  I just love to find a great gadget and test it out.  Maybe I can use this one to map out all my other tools and gadgets!

Yesterday, Rick Frissell was on twitter and he tweeted something like "playing with some mind mapping tool" or something like that.  Well that was all it took!  I've heard people talk about mind mapping, but I had not done it myself.  I always thought it was a great way to get ideas and concepts on "paper", so today I jumped in.

I can't actually remember the name/site that Rick was testing.  I did some searches for mind mapping tools.  I briefly reviewed 3 or 4 before deciding that iMindMap looked the coolest.  Since that's the way I like to pick things, I downloaded their free trial and started goofing around with it.  I quickly deturmined that while it was cool, it was probably too expensive for me at $100 (since this is just a toy at this point).  Another friend on facebook also recommended MindJet so I took a look at that also.

The thing I was looking for was the most visually pleasing maps.  After all, Mind mapping is "all about" visual learning!  I wanted to be able to work quickly, develop complex ideas and add images & links.

So, i did a little more searching and found this awesome FREE & web-based tool (no app to download).  It's called Mind42

Here's the mind map that I was able to create in about 30 minutes (never used this thing before).  The green & orange text and arrows was added later using Skitch (my favorite mac app).  If you click on the map image below, it will take you to the actual hosted mind map on Mind42.com