Proof that my work teaches me new things every day: I spent an hour this morning learning about The Equation of Time. Neato.

K. has the GSM phone I took to Croatia with him somewhere in the wilds of Mexico. We’re spending 30 days in France in April and May, and I needed a GSM phone to replace it.

There are various companies that offer unlocked GSM phones at retail, but I didn’t want to pay the $300 or so that this would cost. So I clenched my teeth and made my first jump into eBay since buying a set of German-language lobby cards for Heaven Can Wait five years ago.

Much to my surprise, 21 hours later I was the nominal owner of an unlocked Sony Ericsson T610 phone for $150. Turned out the seller is in Bradford, which is a hop skip and a jump from one of my ancestral stomping grounds in Brantford, and just 30 minutes or so from where I sit here in Carlisle. Phone should be in the mail to Charlottetown shortly.

On a trip into Burlington today to visit Indigo for some France-book browsing, I noticed a Rogers Wireless depot in the same plaza. I went in to inquire, and found that I could purchase a Rogers “pay as you go” SIM card for only $25 (they tried to get $50 from me for the same thing at the Rogers outlet in Moncton back in mid-winter). So I bought one.

In theory, once the phone arrives, I can pop in the Rogers SIM, connect up to the Rogers website to activate the phone and get a Charlottetown number, and I’ll be off to the races, and will officially become a part of the problem.

Next challenge: figure out which of the three French GSM providers is best, and try to dig up a North American source for a SIM, or decent instructions for locating same once overseas.

Rebecca Miller and Daniel Day-Lewis from the film The Ballad of Jack and Rose (formerly known as “Rose and the Snake”), which was filmed a couple of years ago on Prince Edward Island’s north shore, are guests on Charlie Rose today.

The Island stands in for a “secluded Pacific Northwest island commune” in the film. Apple has the trailer in QuickTime.

Erik, whose around the world exploits I’ve been following through BlogAroundTheWorld.com, has finally reached Day 503 of his trip, returning to New York City from whence he came.

He’s a very good travel writer, and he’s had a good share of fun and adventure.

When I was 14 years old, 25 years ago, a man named Neil Evenden gave me my first computer programming job.

Neil owned Skycraft Hobbies, a business selling all manner of radio controlled planes and boats and other assorted fun gizmos. He ran his business on a souped up TRS-80 Model I: everything from accounting to inventory.

He wanted to expand the capabilities of a software package called “ICS” (for “Inventory Control System”) to allow it to handle point of sale tasks in his store (printing receipts, and the like). Because back then even complex applications were written in BASIC, you bought the source code when you bought the application, and it was possible to modify “off the shelf” applications like ICS.

And Neil hired me to do the job.

I don’t know how he found me, or why he thought I was qualified. I owned my own TRS-80, but that was my only real qualification. I’d dabbled in programming, but I knew nothing about accounting or inventory or point of sale.

For some reason Neil decided that I could do what needed to be done, and that was enough to get me going on the job. I did it, he was happy, and I got paid.

The self confidence I gained from that first job is a large part of why, 25 years later, I’m still a happy self-employed programmer for hire.

We were driving by the old location of the Skycraft Hobbies store today, and I asked Mom if she’d heard any news in recent years about how they were doing. She said she remembered seeing a death notice in the paper for Neil, and I looked it up tonight in the Spectator:

EVENDEN, James “Neil” - At St. Peter’s Hospital in Hamilton, on December 11, 2004, in his 62nd year. He is survived by his loving wife Faye, son Paul and wife Susan of Paris, ON, and daughter Nancy and her husband Andi Kyte. Grandfather of Jessica and Emma Evenden and soon to be born Lily Kyte. Son of James Evenden of St. Catharines and Beverley (deceased). Dear brother of Susan Wallace and Barbara Singleton. During his years of service to McMaster University he was Director of Personnel and founder of Skycraft Hobbies. Cremation has taken place. A Memorial Service will be held at the MARLATT FUNERAL HOME & CREMATION CENTRE, 195 King Street West, Dundas, on Saturday, December 18 at 1:30 p.m. with a memorial visitation one hour prior. Neil wishes that donations are made to the SPCA instead of floral tributes.

This is a much belated tip of the hat to Neil for giving me my start. May you rest in peace.

The City of Charlottetown, celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, has produced a list of 150 Reasons To Visit Charlottetown, and has purchased a huge banner ad on the Guardian website to advertise it.

Scanning the list, it quickly becomes evident that while this gambit may have worked well for the 25th, or maybe even the 50th anniversary, there simply aren’t 150 reasons to visit Charlottetown. Witness these compelling “honey, we’ve got to go to Charlottetown this summer” items on the list:

• 79. Virtual Tours
• 89. Career Skills Learning Centre
• 91. Department of Veterans Affairs
• 103. Novelty Shops
• 118. Meetings PEI
• 121. City Bus Service
• 125. Car Rentals
• 127. A Canadian Port City
• 138. Fantastic Volunteers
• 141. Capital Commission
• 147. Social Adventures

While some of these are obviously just fluff — car rentals? fantastic volunteers? — and some are outright narcissism — Capital Commission? Meetings PEI? — I can’t imagine why anyone in their right mind would think of listing “Career Skills Learning Centre” as a reason for visting Charlottetown. Do tourists usually factor in the availablity of Microsoft Word courses in their vacation plans?

The most galling “reason,” however, is “City Bus Service,” which, in fact, exists in such an anemic form at present that it’s more of a reason not to visit Charlottetown.

In past when I've looked at travel to Europe from here, there's always been a significant premium (a) for travel from Charlottetown (over Halifax) and (b) for travel to anywhere other than London Heathrow.

Much to my surprise, it looks like the usual Charlottetown premium is much less during the current Air Canada seat sale than usual. For example, the best fare on the Air Canada website for Halifax to London is currently $448, while the best Charlottetown to London fare is $600; usually the difference is three or four hundred dollars, enough to make the drive to Halifax worth it.
Similarly, it looks like travel to places in Europe other than London doesn't demand as much of a premium either; while Charlottetown to London is $600, Charlottetown to Paris is only $718.

USA Today reporter Laura Bly goes around the world in 8 days. Thanks to Edward for the link.

One of the first things I learned as an apprentice compositor was that “am” and “pm” are properly typeset “a.m.” and “p.m.” Because I “learned” this by having the error of my ways pointed out to me by my severe (yet goodhearted) mentors, all long-time compositors, it stuck with me. As a result, I am now constitutionally unable to type a time any other way.

Similarly, I cannot misspell beginning because Mr. Sarabura made me write out out 1,000 when I misspelled it on an essay for Grade 9 English.

CBC Television will air the Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein film The Take on Thursday March 24 at 8 p.m. This played at City Cinema earlier in the year, and was quite interesting: if you’re around a television on Thursday, it’s a good watch.