27 December 2015

Reader Under The Spotlight - Rick

Today I would like to introduce you to Rick. 


My name is Rick.  I am a Practice Manager for a group of Physicians working outside of Boston, MA.  I am a single dad with two teen-aged boys who are interested in acting and musical theatre.

1. When did you buy your first organiser and what was it? 

Bretano’s bookstore in NYC 1993 - a black College Personal Filofax that is not made of leather

2. What other brands have you used or considered using?

A small ring binder from the office supply but that size paper isn’t fountain pen friendly so it’s Filofax all the way.

3. Out of the organisers you own which is your current favourite (Style and Size)?
   
Light brown Personal Malden

4. How many Filofax or other brands of organisers do you own?

2 Personal College Filofax, 3 Slimline, 1 Pocket, 1 Personal Epping (my first leather one), a brown Personal Kendall, the brown Personal Malden and my newest is a purple Personal Malden - for a total of 10.

5. What is the oldest organiser in your collection?
 
The black Personal College.

6. What do you use your organisers for?
  • Brown Personal Malden is the main go-to for my calendar, to-do list and inspirational quotes etc.
  • Purple Personal Malden sits on nite-stand for “middle of the nite” ideas and such. 
The others are for storage of reference materials; 1 for finance and economics, 1 for management & performance review forms, 1 for books read, movies/music, 1 for travel.

I like to copy articles from newspapers and magazines, reduce them on my copier and cut to Personal size.  Some examples are: study tips, how to write a footnote, a sort of innovators toolkit, managing change, tips on leadership, how to analyze a company’s financials, an example of the use of game theory, moving checklist, custom formats for spreadsheet dates & times, and of course lists such as 20 ways to stay creative, conceptual blocks that inhibit problem solving, time management and productivity tips.

7. How many sections do you have in your organiser and what is each section used for?

First sheet is left fold out full year school calendar, right is monthly calendars-current and next month, then sections; Priority, Contacts, Templates, Reference, Paper and Notes.  Priority is for current projects,
  • Contacts is phone #’s, passwords and URL’s, 
  • Templates is for bills paid, travel info (Philofaxy template), lined sheets of different spacing to place behind unlined paper to keep my writing in line, and various work related pages,
  • Reference is for conversion charts, lists (25 docs you need to leave your kids before you go) travel security tips, frequently misspelled words, and positive “get out of this rut” type quotes of which I have several pages, 
  • Paper is mostly my own using a paper cutter including Clairefontaine, Tomoe River and some Filofax brand papers. 
  • Notes section is for a few poems and articles from magazines that I copied to a Personal size 1 page memo (Philofaxy template) I use with an old fashioned typewriter font – I liked the one you use on “Free for all Tuesday” and found my own.

8. What was the feature about Filofax you like most?
   
Personal size is small enough to carry yet holds 100 sheets including 6 dividers comfortably.

9. If you could design your own Filofax what would it feature?

Pen loop on left side only so I can use the back slot pad in Malden without the loop crowding.  I would also like a trifold or pullout section but the pen loop is in the way.

10. How do you carry your Filofax?

I only carry it for travel otherwise it sits on my desk

11. Which Filofax in the current range do you like the most? Are you going to buy it?
   
I often think about an A5 but am presently content with my Personals.  I do like the zip up gold-brown leather Malden Personal you showed on Philofaxy awhile back.
   
It’s the one that has been discontinued I think.

12. What is the most you have ever spent on a Filofax or other brand of organiser? Which model?
   
I think I paid close to $200 for the Epping which I bought at the Filofax retail store in Stamford, CT in 1996.

13. What's your favourite Filofax tip or hack?
   
I use tracing paper as a front sheet to-do list as it is see-thru to my calendar and fountain pen friendly.  Got the idea from the Filofax onion skin papers I still have.
   
I also like the Filofax two page memo template with the pink second sheet that is like carbon paper. I occasionally use carbon paper still for memo’s I want to keep a copy of.

14. Turning to Philofaxy, what do you like the most?
   
The “Web Finds” posts are brilliant! And it’s nice to know that I am not alone in my choice of organizational tools.

15. And what do you not like about Philofaxy?
   
What’s not to like? I noticed a post about pens and since I am a fountain pen fan, maybe just a very few more posts on pens that fit the non-expandable loops.

16. What was the last music track you downloaded or bought?
     
My teenagers are into musical theatre so we bought the cd of the current Bdwy show “Alexander Hamilton”- good stuff.  I checked out a batch of fantastic Charlie “Yardbird”
     
Parker CD’s from the local library. I play guitar at a local coffee shop open mic and the last song I worked up was by The Police.

17. Have you ever attended a Philofaxy meet-up? if not do you intend to one day?
     
No, I would have liked to have attended the one in Boston but spend most of my time chauffeuring my boys to rehearsals. Next time, I’m in.

18. What was the last movie you watched?
     
The original version of LeCarre’s Tinker, Tailer, Soldier, Spy with Alec Guiness, Bernard Hepton, Anthony Bate, Michael Jayston, et al.  The absolute best spy story.

19. What was the last book you read?
     
I just finished David McCullough’s “The Wright Brothers” and got chills reading his description of their first attempts at flight.  A great read-highly recommend it!

Thank you Rick.

As you know we are always looking for new people to appear in our 'Reader Under Spotlight feature, you don't have to be 'well known' or a long term user to be considered to appear in this 'spot'.

So please contact Steve philofaxy at gmail dot com today. Thank you.

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