It’s snowing in Vancouver.

Island alternoocrat Lobie Daughton sent around an email today to the friends of the Full Circle Cooperative School. Because he cc’d the email to all of the 44 friends, I got an interesting glimpse into “who’s who” in the so-called “alternative community” on the Island. When you see all of their names together, you realize there’s a potent force to be reckoned with there, from which Full Circle is perhaps the greatest and most public product.

I’ve talked to at least three sets of parents in recent years who have sent their kids to Full Circle, and all have told a similar tale of children flowering once the weight of public school was lifted from their shoulders. It’s an exciting place, and worthy of support. And because they’re a registered charity now, supporting them is tax deductible.

So today, while I’m in the business of giving out lifestyle suggestions, let me further suggest the following: if you were dissatisified with your own public school education, and wished that there had been an “out,” a place where learning happened differently, and with different emphasis, perhaps you could make a donation? Details are available on their website.

About 7 years ago I was standing in the lobby of the Royal York Hotel in Toronto. I was in Toronto as part of an ill-conceived provincial prospecting trip. The ill-conception mostly involved bringing me along, for my ideas about valuable prospecting activities were at odds with those of my colleagues.

My cell phone rang. I believe this may have been the first time my cell phone had ever rung outside of Prince Edward Island, so it was exciting. On the phone was Cindy Burton. She explained that her company, Rainforest Publications, based in British Columbia, was looking at moving to PEI; they were looking to move, and apparently Enterprise PEI had offered up some carrots. Cindy was looking for some pointers to ISPs and other technology types in Charlottetown, and I spent a couple of minutes on the phone pointing her in the right direction (I think I told her to call Kevin O’Brien, which was about as right a direction as you could get back then).

Fast forward a bit, and Rainforest was located on the Island. Fast forward a bit more and they were called iWave, and were a public company. And a bit more into the future and Cindy was out and Jamie Hill was in.

To this day, I’ve never met Cindy, but I recently stumbled across some of her recent endeavours, and they look interesting.

Her new corporate hat is Big Dog Solutions, which, says her website, “specializes in helping both non-profit agencies and start-up companies reach their fullest potential.” (see also here).

Cindy is also starting a dog-focused resort called Cool Dog Ranch (“Think of it as “club med” for you and your dog!” says the website) at an undisclosed location on the Island.

And she’s helping Junellen Claushiede open a retreat in Valleyfield called The Hearth that will “combine the best in organic cuisine and Island hospitality.”

And she’s leading a group called “The Catalyst Consortium” in some sort of mystery “exciting and innovative program” up west involving “five of PEI’s top consultants.”

Bravo! It’s good to see someone with energy and enthusiasm putting her talents to creative use here. I never could have imagined this, sitting on the end of a cell phone in the lobby in Toronto.

Do this. Right now. Please.

Go to your closet. Or your shoe tree (do people still have shoe trees?). Select a pair of shoes in need of repair. We all have them: the treasured pair of well-worn shoes that have fallen on bad times.

Sneakers and other plastic contraptions need not apply: we need something in need of repair that can, in fact, be repaired.

Now take these shoes and walk over to Currie’s Shoe Repair on Queen Street in Charlottetown. It’s on the west side, just south of Kent Street, near The Bookman. It’s in the basement.

Walk in the front door and down the stairs. And leave your shoes to be repaired.

They’ll probably be ready on Friday, or maybe early next week. You will be given a tag to take home to remind you. You will have a pleasant conversation with the owner.

Your life will improve immeasurably.

Do this. Right now. Please.

FedEx announced today it’s acquiring Kinko’s. FedEx.com has details, with audio and video.

Here’s what’s new in the restaurant trade in Charlottetown.

The Taj Mahal, serving Indian cuisine on University Avenue, has closed its doors until June 1st. While I can’t claim to have had any barn-burner Indian meals there, one doesn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, and I’m sad to be without them for the long cold winter.

Perhaps it’s just me, but after a good start, things at Cora’s Breakfast and Lunch seem to be flagging a little. My perennial favourite the fruit crunch (granola, English cream, and lots of fresh fruit) used to be presented with much fanfare, and lots of extra fruit bonuses on the plate. This took something of the edge off paying close to $8.00 for a bowl of fruit. Lately, though, and especially this morning, this dish has been significantly reduced in spleandour: gone are any trace of plate garnishes, and the variety of fruit is diminished, with much more of the [traditional, for restaurants] reliance on melon and cantaloupe. Over Christmas, Catherine ordered the “St. Nicholas Special,” which is a hot turkey dinner with stuffing and mashed. She said, and I quote, “that’s the worse turkey dinner I’ve ever had.” Service at Cora’s has also suffered: it’s not unusual to see a line 5 or 6 customers deep waiting to cash out. I hope the downturn isn’t permanent, especially as they’re very nice to Oliver there, and he loves their pancakes.

The folks at the Formosa Tea House are hard at work in the former premises of Big Momma’s (which Gary insists on calling “The Windmill” for historical reasons). Word on the street is that they are shooting for a March opening, with a menu and hours expanded from the Formosa. No definitive word on the future of the University Ave. location; I hope they stick with it, because it’s so handy to the new office.

Catherine and I had dinner at the new St. James Place on Saturday (it’s in the old Home Hardware location on Kent Street). I had the vegetarian mushroom burger which, although too drenched in various fats, oils and cheeses to be considered technically “healthy” was very tasty. Catherine, who had breakfast there early Saturday, urged me on to the roasted potatoes over the jasmine rice, and they were, as she predicted, very good. Catherine had some sort of complex pasta dish that was baked in parchment. It didn’t change her life, but she enjoyed it. There were a wide variety of beers on tap (I’m not a beer drinker, but I was impressed with the various unusual names that seemed, to my untrained eye, quite exotic). The only downside food-wise was an expensive ($7.00) piece of mediocre raspberry cheesecake. It would have been pleasant at $3.95; at $7.00 I want the earth to move. I could take or leave the “ye olde” decor; I’m not sure why we feel compelled to recreate pretend olde interiors with fake plaster and fake beams, but I’m not mortally opposed to it, and the room has a nice feel. We were back last night around midnight, and the place was hopping with a crowd of 25-35 year olds, all looking very sophisticated. Presumably the St. James Place is an upgrade path from Myrons, and it certainly is handy by.

Now that I have used the phrase “handy by” I must stop writing.

My Sipura SPA-2000 arrived today. With some fiddling, greatly aided by this helpful article by Dorian Gray, I was able to get the Sipura talking to my Digium Wildcard X100P.

I’ve only just started configuring Asterisk, but I’ve already got the this all hooked up to (902) 892-2556, and it’s accepting my voicemail and emailing me my messages as audio file attachments (interestingly, this was the easiest part of the system to set up).

All of this is something of a relief, as I spent so many frustrating hours trying to get USB and the Digium S100U to play happily — I never succeeded — that this was my first real opportunity to be impressed by Asterisk. And it is impressive.

More information, and a detailed step-by-step, coming soon.

I’ve noticed that in this U.S. primary campaign, all television and radio advertising by the candidates contains a section where the candidate says “I’m blahblahblah and I’ve approved this message.”

Apparently this is required by law, as the result of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 [PDF] that states, in s.311 (3) (d) (1) (a):

Any communication described in paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection (a) which is transmitted through radio shall include, in addition to the requirements of that paragraph, an audio statement by the candidate that identifies the candidate and states that the candidate has approved the communication.

And in s.311 (3) (d) (1) (b):

Any communication described in paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection (a) which is transmitted through television shall include, in addition to the requirements of that paragraph, a statement that identifies the candidate and states that the candidate has approved the communication.

Thanks to IsleAsk for research assistance.