The Zigo... a week in..

After being in search of a cargo bike for a while, we decided that the fixed cargo solutions were going to be good for weekends but not so good during the week. So we started looking at some of the bike/pram solutions and discovered a new one for sale (still boxed) on eBay for almost half the RRP.


So after a successful bid and a not so short trip to Esk to pick it up, a very excited little boy helped me unpack it and build the b(ike p)ram.

Since then it's managed a few short trips to the park or coffee as a the bike pram. It takes a little bit of getting used to riding a trike vs a 2 wheeler, the lack of leaning on the corners made me a bit uneasy the first couple of times. One that is sorted out it's quite fun to ride and being able to keep an eye on the kids is really easy. Obviously I mounted the garmin and some clip-ins to it from the outset.

With the addition of the Zigo though I also scored a stand alone commuter bike which has meant the other commuters have had to go. It's in a similar vein to the townie with the high seating position but the gearing (obviously for when you have the child pod onboard). While it's not quick (topping out at about 24km/h pedalling at about 110rpm) it makes a perfect bike for commuting already dressed for work. Even if I got the rush of blood to chase down that roadie (which may have happened more than once or twice riding the fixie) it's not remotely possible so I just kick back and roll through to work.

I might have lost some hipster cred losing the fixie and commuting on the Zigo, but so far it's the perfect combo for child transport and commuting duty.

Is Nintendo going easy on us?

I'll admit I'm a bit slow to this party being a bit cycling obsessed lately but I finally got around to trading up to a 3DS. Firstly, wow it's a pretty amazing little console. I was a bit skeptical about the whole 3D thing, normal glasses tech gives me a headache almost instantly and as a result I've shied away from 3D TV or cinema. I figured I would just be using the 3DS in 3D off mode the whole time. To my surprise it A. Worked and B. I wasn't turning away with headaches at the first minute. It's not all sunshine and lollipops though, it certainly is much more fatiguing in 3D mode, but gone are the days where I have time for endless gaming sessions anyway.

Now to the games, one of my whole reasons for the upgrade was to play Mario 3D Land and feed my addiction to the franchise. Unfortunately I was a bit disappointed. Not with the game itself so much, because the gameplay and levels are just what you'd expect from a Mario game, but with their insistence on giving you an easy way to finish the level. Die a few times and you'll be given a box with an timeless invincibility power up. Fall off a few more times trying to get that elusive 3rd star coin and boom there is another block to fly you to the flag at the end of the level.

Really? As a society have we become so soft that we can't slog it out for a few more goes? Clearly gone are the days where you leave the console on for days because you made it halfway through the level and couldn't save until you finished.

Maybe Nintendo are concerned about the environmental impacts of all those paused consoles?

Do games need to be handed to us on a platter? Surely our kids could learn a bit of "if you slug it out you can succeed" rather than "if you can't do it it's ok someone will make it easier for you".

If you ignore that it's a pretty fun game. And if you're terrible at platformers. No need to worry. Nintendo has the easy ticket to the end.