Bike bits

I pumped the tyres on the Hardrock up last night and had a bit of a ride, only to find that the front had gone utterly flat this morning. I was taking it over to my Dad's anyway, so we had a look and found the cheesy stock inner tube had ruptured on the inside, by the rim. After a visit to the bike shop, it's now had new inner tubes, bottle holders and bottles, a pump, and a little bag under the saddle to hold a spare inner tube, puncture repair kit and spanner.

The stereo finally came out of the dashboard in the Astra, but only after a LOT of swearing and levering with screwdrivers. I now regret my anger because the surrounding dash is rather marked and the clock/temperature indicator now only lights up occasionally. Oh well, will have another look when I've had time to calm down. It kept losing its settings after the ignition was turned off but then I remember that with Vauxhalls you have to swap the red and yellow wires.

The more I hear about Windows 8, the more it looks like Microsoft is getting ready to dump 30 years of experience and development to try and follow the Apple locked down approach with the new Metro interface. I've tried the consumer preview of 8 and while certain things are really good (new task manager), the schizoid interface that flips between a normal desktop and the Metro interface is really hard to use on a desktop or laptop. I think it'll be OK on a tablet, but tablets suck for anything other than casual use. Also I find it annoying that perfectly ordinary Windows software is now called 'Classic' as though it's already obsolete. I guess I'll have to stick with Windows 7 then. Apple has become beyond evil in my opinion, selling sealed and locked down disposable hardware that is impossible to repair. I used to like Linux, but it's horrible on the desktop. Great for servers though.

It's still been a warm day but now there's a breeze which helps. Off to Rob and Em's in a bit to watch the Eurovision and mock it royally, and consume snacks of course.

This brings back happy memories of Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 on the PS2. I spent so much time on that game. I remember playing the first one on the PSone, and being amazed that I liked it. I wonder what the HD remake of the first game will be like. Apparently it will have updated graphics but the original code for the controls and movement - it could work.