Quick Update About Stuff Only I Care About

As the 5 Boro Bike Ride rapidly approaches I have a couple of pics of my bike in all its glory. I bought this thing a couple of years ago and then promptly re-injured my back so I have very close to zero hours riding time on it. Originally it was a dirt trail bike (made for going uphill on difficult trails slowly) with giant knobby tires and tiny, tiny gears. But now that I'm kinda not really riding on those kinds of trails I figured it'd be better to convert it to more street use. This meant putting slick tires on it as well as adding a third chain ring and a slightly longer chain (to accommodate the new bigger chain ring). Oh my god I almost fell asleep typing that. Now I can cruise on pavement without having to pedal like a madman trying to keep up with other peeps.

Also, the aforementioned kitchen renovation has been put on hold for now. After much hemming and hawing we figured that now isn't the best time to be spending a large amount of cash. We do still have to replace our stove (which committed suicide after it overheard us complaining about it) but that's not anywhere near the giant wad of cash that we were looking at for the whole project. We still plan on fixing up the kitchen, just not this year. At the very least this got us moving on a project that we've been talking about for over a decade. We saw some real-world figures and got some ideas of what we can and cannot do (structurally and financially), so I'm looking at this as a learning experience rather than a giant bummer. I'm a glass half full kind of guy (no, I'm totally not).

So, yea, that's what's shakin'. Here's the pics
(click on 'em for giant size!):

yes, that's a Craftsman workbench in our kitchen. It's there because without it we'd have almost zero counter space. Oh, and we're tacky. Actually, the wall that it's in front of is the wall we plan to take out when we renovate. The pantry is to the left and the mudroom is on the right. Our plan is to take out that wall and make it all one room. Right now just isn't the time for such an expensive project.