Ultimate organiser has tickets on itself

3-MIN READ3-MIN

Published: 12:00am, 24 Aug 2004

Mac users do a lot of different things. They frequently have three or four hobbies, three or four professions and sometimes even three or four Macs.

I suspect it is part of the creative persona that is attracted to the platform.

To do lots of things successfully, one needs to be organised, and all my life I have searched for the perfect organisational method. Before I start any new project, area of research, small business, book or invention, I go to the local office supply store and buy what I think the project needs in the organising department. It might be file folders, pens, date books or metal racks to keep folders neatly close at hand.

It has become a ritual directed at bringing luck to the venture. Over the years, this pre-project spending has gotten a name from those who know me well - getting Horriganised.

It does not work though. I have tons of folders in unmarked boxes strewn from attic to garage and no idea what is in them. I also have numerous filing cabinets, desk drawers and plastic crates, all filled with really interesting stuff. But I do not know what is where.

The chaos stands as a tribute to failed organisational systems. All that came to an end last week when a usually cynical, Mac-using friend enthusiastically bragged that she had found the answer. She had bought a Dymo LabelWriter 330 Turbo (www.dymo.com) label-making machine. I had been aware of it for many years but was under the impression that its OSX software was not up to speed.