Microsoft, and biking.
No, the two really aren't connected at all.
But this is a really entertainingly bad review of a Microsoft press conference. Which is to say, they reviewed the press conference, not the software being showed off.
Bike!
I got my bike out of storage yesterday, and did some work on it. So now it's got new handgrips, and the brakes have been adjusted so that they work (now I just need to adjust them so they work WELL). Thanks to coffeebeanben for advice on getting the new grips on... it really wasn't working until he told me how to do it. (Hot, soapy water did the trick...)
And then, last night, I went for my first bike ride of the season, with gryphonkin. I really need to ride more. We didn't go far -- just into the center of Amherst, then back after a stop for dinner -- but it felt really good. Except for the bit where my rear brakes stopped working. That bit wasn't so much fun. But it wasn't that bad (the front brakes still worked fine, and I had a pair of pliers with me that I managed to use to FIX the rear brakes, more or less), so that's ok.
Things still to do for my bike:
1) fix the rear brakes. And adjust the front ones a bit. Really, I may just want to replace the rear one...
2) replace the saddle. It's uncomfortable, and old, and starting to fall apart.
3) get a rat-trap or something like it for the back. It'd really be nice to be able to, you know, carry a few things. Like the magazine I picked up at dinner, just as a hypothetical for-instance.
4) put the new tires on. I'll find out today whether the old tubes hold air, but I'm fairly certain the back one, at least, doesn't. Shouldn't be too hard to replace, though.
5) consider re-painting it. It's ugly, there are spots where the paint has been scraped off it (before I bought it, sadly), and I'd like it to not rust.
Still... for an $80 bike, it's in remarkably good shape. And I need to ride it more.
But this is a really entertainingly bad review of a Microsoft press conference. Which is to say, they reviewed the press conference, not the software being showed off.
Bike!
I got my bike out of storage yesterday, and did some work on it. So now it's got new handgrips, and the brakes have been adjusted so that they work (now I just need to adjust them so they work WELL). Thanks to coffeebeanben for advice on getting the new grips on... it really wasn't working until he told me how to do it. (Hot, soapy water did the trick...)
And then, last night, I went for my first bike ride of the season, with gryphonkin. I really need to ride more. We didn't go far -- just into the center of Amherst, then back after a stop for dinner -- but it felt really good. Except for the bit where my rear brakes stopped working. That bit wasn't so much fun. But it wasn't that bad (the front brakes still worked fine, and I had a pair of pliers with me that I managed to use to FIX the rear brakes, more or less), so that's ok.
Things still to do for my bike:
1) fix the rear brakes. And adjust the front ones a bit. Really, I may just want to replace the rear one...
2) replace the saddle. It's uncomfortable, and old, and starting to fall apart.
3) get a rat-trap or something like it for the back. It'd really be nice to be able to, you know, carry a few things. Like the magazine I picked up at dinner, just as a hypothetical for-instance.
4) put the new tires on. I'll find out today whether the old tubes hold air, but I'm fairly certain the back one, at least, doesn't. Shouldn't be too hard to replace, though.
5) consider re-painting it. It's ugly, there are spots where the paint has been scraped off it (before I bought it, sadly), and I'd like it to not rust.
Still... for an $80 bike, it's in remarkably good shape. And I need to ride it more.