Sleep helps...sometimes.
{$provider_info} is the variable that is usually initialized with an array containing the provider info:
Array (5)
id => "1"
login => "mike@babymonkeystudios.com"
title => "Mr."
firstname => "Michael"
lastname => "White"
I can't give you a crash course on Smarty, but if you know php, smarty will come naturally over time. It is even easier for me than php itself. I like writing eq or ne instead of == or !=. It truly is a "smart" language- pun intended. :_)
Let me know when you get stuck. Post real code examples and I will help where I can. If you need more than just volunteer support, I can help out professionally as well.
-Mike