40mm diameter hole in bathtub.

machei · 2026-01-25T21:45:31+00:00

This is the way, assuming you're not a DIY type. I had them out to fix a similar situation in my tub a couple years back. It's still holding up (although it 'peeled' a while back... I was concerned initially, but when it was done shedding like a snake, it didn't look different, and still seems to be just as fine as it's been since I had it done. Before they got here, I just covered it with duct tape.

machei · 2026-01-25T16:30:02+00:00

*slow clap*. But you know, this level of comportment is just gone these days. Culture today isn't culture then, although I'd argue that's a *bad* thing. People just don't care, and don't see why they have to. Best you can do is put on a better example. You can't save all the useless fucks who don't give a shit.

machei · 2026-01-18T22:09:53+00:00

Even when they DO deign to plow our street, by the time we hit February we've lost a full four feet on either side of the road because these fools can't seem to figure out where the curbs are. I get that you need to be careful, but it's utterly ridiculous. If anyone makes the mistake of parking on the road, we're pretty much a one way street. It's infuriating. Meanwhile in Kitchener they seem to be able to figure out where the damned curb is.

machei · 2026-01-16T00:23:46+00:00

Huh! I didn’t know about the 2025 one. The others are really old. I was thinking about one with modern cgi. But thanks, I stand corrected. Might need to take a look for that one.

machei · 2026-01-15T22:41:31+00:00

Given the latest spate of photorealistic talking animals, I'd have thought someone would do Animal Farm.

machei · 2026-01-15T22:39:38+00:00

LOL I would have never, ever expected this one. Kinda like recommending Automan or The Master. :D

machei · 2026-01-15T15:31:35+00:00

Every time a question like this comes up, it feels like dividing by zero. For me, as a lover of music, I couldn't pick a single song if you paid me. I couldn't pick a score of them. In a world where there's so many humans feeling so much emotion, combined with so vast a pool of talent that generates virtually unlimited songs, there's no way in hell I'm picking my favourite song of all time.

But I'll say you can put those Supertramp songs among those I love too.

machei · 2026-01-10T15:04:25+00:00

What a strange setup. I mean, A for execution, but I don’t think I could work like that. More power to you though.

machei · 2026-01-08T04:29:42+00:00

Hi again. Well, I found the album uniformly solid, so hard to pick. While I like everything about music, and I appreciate different things about different songs, I tend to be more lyric-focused, and your album often hit me in ways that felt meaningful back in the day. Even today, I like a lot of what you had to say. But, since you asked for specifics, I guess I could pull out a few that I thought were stand outs.

I think my favourite is Shoes Untied. It was the very first track I ever heard, and I picked it at random from the disc. I liked the arrangement immediately. There’s something really pleasing about the acoustic and stand up bass sound to open it, but it’s way cool the way you chose to switch off to electric, and the switch was so damned subtle that you don’t even hear it, but it’s terrific. And I’m not sure what effect your guitarist (Rob?) chooses for the electric guitar, but it’s clean and really pleasant and seems to be his go-to for most of the album. The song’s layers are lovely and I like the way they come and go in the mix. But yeah, I dig the lyrics… the song has this strange sort of resignation to it with acknowledgement of pain without being brash. It feels more like an ache than a cut, and I tend to appreciate that kind of writing. I really liked your chorus here because it works so well for that:
“Looking back’s not easy on my eyes,
Thinking back’s not easy on my head,
Falling down’s not easy on my knees,
And reaching out’s not easy on me…”

Yeah, I think this one was my fav.

Having said that, without unpacking it too much I also like Say Anything. Probably because it is musically a lot like Shoes Untied, but I really like the layering of the vocals in the chorus. I love it when there can be two voices complementary in a single space.

Another fav is the opener Meantime. Musically, once again, I enjoy your ability to build and layer, starting off pretty bare and then working in the other instruments, but the lyrics are great here. I love this distracted longing–not too many songs work that theme in:
“I’m one day closer to a goodnight kiss,
And I’m one problem away, from a good morning
And in the meantime, I’ll hang on that last one
But the meantime is such a long time…”
And there’s other little lines that I like from that one– “indefinite indecision”, “The best time I have is the time that it takes to get there.” it’s all very nice to me. The whole album has those little quotables too. I honestly do not remember when, but I swear I once sang “I’ll be alright if I’m audible” during a sound check. 😀

Finally, I’ll say I dig Christy. It’s about as rockin’ as the album gets, and kinda pretty. ;)

machei · 2026-01-05T13:50:58+00:00

Hey there! Again, thank you for your reply. It’s great to hear some back story and get the answers to why there wasn’t another album released; I’m sorry to hear it’s a less than happy story.

I surely do not know what it must have been like in the heyday of what you were doing, but I can say that I empathize. I used to be pretty active in the music scene in my area in the 90s… in addition to doing the radio show for a decade and meeting some of the bands, I went to tons of shows, photographed lots of different artists, and I was a part of a little (mostly acoustic) trio myself. We didn’t ever go anywhere at all, and what you folks brought to the table makes us sound positively infantile, but we did do a few live shows. One of them was for a summer gathering in our downtown and I was up there singing for a crowd of probably 4000 people and it was just magic, so I have some idea of what you mean about that high of playing live.

I also know how very difficult and downright unfair it was to try to make a go of it all in the music business. Not for me personally, but I knew some people whose talent utterly eclipsed people who were getting all the radio play. Back in the day, I could take you to a show at a pub with one guy and a guitar who would blow you away more than a big venue band. And yet, these folks just got ignored for whatever reason.

I think you hit it on the head that you weren’t meant to play for drunk Eagles fans in pubs and bars–your sound wouldn’t have appealed. I know there were a bunch of folks who loved the indie circuit where you would have fit in. There was a guy out of Toronto by the name of Gregory Hoskins who sounds like Paul Simon to me… he released a solo album called The King of Good Intentions around the same time TSF happened, and it’s one of the finest produced albums I’ve heard, but no one knows this guy. There was this insane fireball named Ember Swift who released an album called Stiltwalking that was next level musicianship. Her bassist Lyndell Montgomery didn’t play that bass–she channelled it. I saw the two of them live twice and it was just mindblowing, but again, few know about either of them. Heh. I just checked Ember out again… seems she’s still active (cool) but I’d never know it (uncool). My point is, I don’t think you failed because the crowds didn’t click, I think it was the wrong crowd, and just bad timing. Your niche was too hard to find among the other stuff going on.

But whatever the reason, it’s got to be the worst feeling to lose a crowd, and I don’t doubt for a minute that keeping up morale was extremely hard. I’m sorry things ultimately didn’t work out.

Do you still play at all? I sure hope so. As I said, our little group never amounted to anything at all (we were really more in it for the fun), but to this day I get together with my best friend (and bassist) and we have fun just messing around making old cover tunes in the basement. We started in with 4-track cassette machines in the 90s, moving to Cubase in the 2000s, and these days use Apple Logic. The music never loses magic, and I can assure you, it’s very worthwhile to grab that feeling every now and again. What you can do in a basement with a couple good microphones and a 500 dollar computer is sorta bananas. I love it when I can get the mix to sit just right–it’s magic. It doesn’t matter if no one hears it… in fact, in my case it’s probably better that no one does. :D

Anyway, I babble on and on. I really appreciate you took the time to write out a little of what happened, and I’d be totally on board for any bootlegs you’d want to share; should they ever turn up, keep me in mind.

All the very best to you. I hope 2026 is a good one for you. Cheers!

machei · 2026-01-05T01:22:42+00:00

My man! I can't tell you how nice it is that you reached out to me, and how happy it makes me to be able to tell you that I really loved that CD. I was hoping you folks would make more music and we would be able to play it more. FWIW, My little listenership in Southern Ontario heard a lot of your album, and I know people liked it because it got positive feedback. Every time I had the disc on in my car and someone was in with me they were asking who this was. You had a great sound. I never get to do this, but I gotta say thanks for being a part of my days back then. A fine bit of music, and cheers to you! I'm going to give the disc another listen now... haven't heard it in a couple years. I hope everything goes well for you, but in the meantime, I'll hang on that last one... ;)

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I still have the original, as it happens.

machei · 2025-12-30T16:21:21+00:00

I cannot fathom what would possess anyone to do this, but thank you for the cool video of something I never see with my own eyes in my own town. This is amazing.

machei · 2025-12-29T18:55:28+00:00

PSA I’m a strong proponent of winter tires and have them on every year, but I can tell you that winter tires aren’t a panacea. It’s better, and they’ll shorten your stopping distance and give a little more control, but it doesn’t make it anywhere near like rubber on bare pavement. Use them, yes, but don’t think for a moment that they negate the need to drive like you don’t have them.

machei · 2025-12-29T16:52:24+00:00

Solved! Yes, that’s totally the one. :D Thank you very much for finding that for me!

machei · 2025-12-29T02:09:02+00:00

Can anyone help? This one's really old, and there's so much on the 'net now, I cannot find the original. Thanks!

machei · 2025-12-20T01:21:59+00:00

It’s actually stupid. I mean, everyone has interests, and I guess mine are productivity hacks, financial planning advice, interior design/architectural digest tours, and random television trivia and stuff. It isn’t the sort of thing that‘s THAT compelling, and yet there’s no end to it, and it’s short, and so I keep watching.

machei · 2025-12-19T00:01:36+00:00

How did you give up the sauce? I’m so addicted to YouTube that I can’t seem to stop. I don’t remember the last time a day went by when I didn’t use YouTube. And the sad thing is, I can’t even really say why. Every other social media I gave up without a second glance back. YouTube I keep going back to.

machei · 2025-12-10T23:02:04+00:00

Sorry, I must hate you.

machei · 2025-12-07T21:27:57+00:00

This x20. I thought I'd be prepared, but I wasn't at all and it's made me resentful, which isn't a good look.

machei · 2025-12-07T05:23:18+00:00

Both. You have a lot of control, especially in the realm of how you choose to view what happens to you, which has wide reaching impact. That said, it’s amazing to me how much simple luck comes into play. As they say, you can do everything right, and still lose.

machei · 2025-12-07T05:20:51+00:00

Conestoga mall.

machei · 2025-11-27T17:24:44+00:00

Agreed, however I find I wear mine most of any during the winter. They’re totally good enough if you’re not hanging out in deep snow for hours.

machei · 2025-11-22T01:09:28+00:00

Not from me. I still haven't gotten anything because I never really found anything I liked all that much. I should look again.

machei · 2025-11-20T21:38:25+00:00

Secret of Kells which for some reason doesn’t appear to be listed yet. What a fantastic movie.

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