A debate surrounding the future of Charlottetown's Perimeter Highway and Riverside Drive as a place to cycle (or not, in this case) has come to a boil this week as the province has announced its redevelopment plans for the transportation artery. The plan expresses a desire to prohibit cyclists from the highway, which has come under attack from various parties.

I actually agree with the position of the Province of discouraging the use of bicycles on the perimeter highway. I think the more effective solution would be to create a cycling corridor that runs from West to East from Beach Grove, through UPEI, Sherwood and Hillsborough to the QEH:

See map: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3500034

Utilizing existing trails:
- gravel path along Hermitage Pond from Beach Grove Road to Brown's Court (almost)
- intersection with existing Rails to Trails path behind UPEI, existing dirt path to Mt Edward Road

Not shown on map: a small branch to connect Stonepark school

Obviously this would be a less direct route than if you cycled the perimeter highway. My experience in Montreal has been that it doesn't really matter if the bike paths are a bit convoluted, which this path would be to a certain degree. When you know where a path is going, it's easy to overlook a few extra twists and turns. Pavement markings and a bit of signage goes a very long way, and a few removable bollards separating cycling lanes from traffic lanes on narrower streets add to the sense of security when cycling on the road. Compared to cycling on a highway shoulder with the dust, noise, exhaust and danger, it's far preferable, even if it takes you a bit out of your way.

In this case, we have the opportunity to connect a senior high school, a university, an intermediate school, a primary school, numerous city parks, a hospital and many core residential areas of Charlottetown within a 10km path primarily on existing asphalt. More landmarks like these make more stakeholders and more potential users. A cycling path on or adjacent to the perimeter highway would not have such proximity to all these landmarks, nor would it be suitable for anyone but experienced (and willing) adult riders.

I've been operating under the banner of Resonance Development Incorporated for some time now, but never actually got around to building a proper web site. Strange since that's my business, right?

My position on the matter was to have either a really nice web site, or none at all. As of this evening, we now have one:

http://resonancedev.ca

The site is built with Drupal 6, naturally, and is dripping with jQuery enhancements. If you've seen my business cards, it's the exact same wavy design and colour scheme. I'm pleased to report it looks mostly OK on an iPhone.

I hope you like it!

Stolen from Jeff Palmer:

If you had purchased $1000.00 of Nortel stock one year ago, it would now be worth $49.00.

With Enron, you would have $16.50 left of the original $1,000.00.

With WorldCom, you would have less than $5.00 left.

But, if you had purchased $1,000.00 worth of Beer one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling price, you would have $214.00.

Based on the above, current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle.
It's called the 401-Keg Plan

My recent trip to Australia and Indonesia was an exercise in packing lightly. I was to take 7 flights from 5 airports (I ended up taking 9 flights from 7 airports, heh), at least two flights of which had a strict 20kg baggage limit. Not to mention the needless wear and tear I would subject myself to by packing too much in constantly getting myself from A to B.

Luckily my travels would take me through temperate and tropical climates not requiring many clothes, but you still need a fair bit for 24 days on the road. I will, however, leave the non-clothing packing advice to only this: TAKE AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE. Camera, toothbrush, passport. Done.

What I took:
* 2x dry fit shirts
* 1x black cycling pants
* 1x cargo shorts, khaki
* 1x workout shorts, with liner (doubles as 2nd bathing suit)
* 1x swim suit
* 8x white socks, 2x dark socks
* 8x boxers
* 7x tshirts
* 2x button-up shirts
* 1x golf shirt
* hiking shoes
* flip flops

The only things I would change for next time:
* take one extra button-up shirt and one fewer tshirt. The short-sleeved button up shirts look great and are quite comfortable in warmer temps
* take one additional pair of cargo shorts made from lighter fabric