How to Inflate Tires I recently got a new beginners road bike:

http://www.amazon.com/Takara-Kabuto-Single-Speed-Road/dp/B004W8LG1S/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

And an air pump:

http://www.amazon.com/Topeak-Pocket-Rocket-Master-Blaster/dp/B000FI6XGC/ref=sr_1_3?s=sporting-goods&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1339274700&amp;sr=1-3

But I have no idea how to use the bike pump. I really don't have that much experience with bikes, which is probably a large portion of the problem. Here are some questions I have:


How do you even use the pump? I imagined it would be intuitive but it isn't, at all. It looks like my wheels have a schrader valve (it's definitely not presta, could it be something else?), and my pump says it can work for these valves, but I can't attach the end of the pump on the part of the tire that takes in air at all. After reading the Amazon reviews I understand you have to do an operation to change the head in order to deal with schraders, but even after that, it still doesn't work for me. 
When I was young, I always pumped my bike until I felt the wheel was firm, as I had never heard of psi or anything. How do you exactly tell how much to pump your bike and what does psi have to do with anything?


Thanks
Remove the valve cap
With the lever folded flat against the pump insert the valve into the Schrader port of the pump
Lift the lever so it is perpendicular to the pump body this will lock the pump and valve together
Pump the pump until the tire feels firm
Fold the lever against the pump body and quickly remove the pump from the valve
Measure the pressure with a tire pressure gauge
If the pressure is less than desired repeat steps 2 thru 5
If the pressure is above the desired pressure release some air and recheck it with the gauge
As a side note the more you use the pump the closer you will be able to judge the pressure by the effort required to push the pump