This is how I spent 30 minutes on Saturday. If you think I look like I'm in pain you would be correct.

Finally. Our kitchen renovation is complete. After enough silicone to fill a size double D implant the installers packed and left. And now I have visions of dinner parties dancing in my head.

After 3 weeks of waiting to get the correct granite counter top the call finally came at approximately 11:29am. They would deliver and install the stone at 2:30. Yeah! Great! Although I had difficulty disconnecting the sink and lifting the old formica and wood countertop, I got it done. The rest was easy - just wait. It only took about 3 minutes for the guys to realize that the length of the counter was too long by about an 1/8 inch. Thankfully, they checked the backsplash as well and promptly took both back to the truck and back to the shop to have it recut. I held their tools for ransom if they don't come back!

Any way, fast forward to present day and you can understand my reticence over being coached again. I even have a hard time competing, not really enjoying or looking forward to it but feeling like I must in order to validate my time on the bike. Another left over hang up from the early days. But last night, it became clear, that my coach was different. He actually cares about my life and understands that the bike comes maybe 4th or 5th down the line. That my son, family and career come first. And for the next race he wants me to reach two goals; one, to actually enjoy the race and two, to get through the race and recovery migraine-free. Not win, not come in top ten, not even - don't get dropped. I have to say that after he said this something shifted in my attitude and I actually started looking forward to the race. As a 40 year old woman I have no intention of taking cycling as serious as some of my peers and now I feel like I don't have to apologize for that. All I ever wanted to do was have fun.

Here are some pictures of Christo's Gates project that was finally actualized in February 2005. What is remarkable to me, after watching the HBO movie about them, is that this project was 30 years in the making. They actually show clips, and you can tell by the outfits, its the 70's, of uptight, psuedo-intellectuals complaining that having the Gates in Central Park would be like Picasso painting Guernica over The Last Supper. Their claim that Central Park would be defaced and its natural beauty ruined really got my blood boiling. Remember, the 70's all the way into the early 90's Central Park was hardly the oasis it is today. Criminals, junkies and vandals dominated and most people steered clear. As disappointing as it was for Christo to be shut down I'm sure, in retrospect, he would agree that Central Park today was best suited to house his art. If the Gates were installed earlier the decay and grafitti that plagued the park would not have done them justice. Regardless, those naysayers represent all that is bad in this city. Just because its Manhattan people often wear a cultural and intellectual badge that signifies they know better and are smarter and more cultured than the rest of the county. What the Gates did is exactly opposite of what the opposition feared. The Gates dressed the park in gold like an unexpected bow-tied gift. It united people and created conversations amongst us that perhaps never would have occurred without them and melted the coldest of hearts. They also hold a special place in my own heart for other reasons - they were unfurled about the same time as I moved into my newly purchased apartment on Fifth ave. So when the elevator door opened onto the lobby I was greeted by these glorious symbols of dedication, love and perseverance.

Check out the HBO movie, hearing the snipets of conversations and seeing the Gates against rain, snow and wind is spectacular.

Yesterday at 6:30am the first Spring Series race began in Central Park. The temperature said 39 degrees at that time but I learned later that it was the night before's reading and the screen hadn't refreshed. Luckily I stayed in bed while Aleks braved the cold and wind. Like most early races there were plenty of crashes and although Aleks didn't go down he got caught behind a crash thus ending his race. Some guy cracked his frame. There goes $4,000. There is a reason why a lot of New York City financial types like this sport. They can afford it.

I was supposed to have my granite installed this morning. This is what they delivered. This is NOT what I ordered. No offense but it looks like cat vomit. The mistake was made in the materials. The order was conveyed as Savannah Gold but they neglected to say "granite". This is Savannah Gold LIMESTONE. We will have to wait another couple of days so Aleks, being lost without a kitchen, rescued our old formica counter top and sink from the basement where we discarded it. I asked him if he wiped the counter top down after he re-installed even though I knew the answer. He seemed shocked that I would want it disinfected after he rescued it from the trash, where cockroaches and mice hang out.

I can't talk about our kitchen renovations unless I mention my new favorite tool – the planer. If it weren't for this invention Aleks and I would have committed a double suicide this weekend. The walls of our little 5×7 kitchen were not square making it necessary to shave off the edge of our new cabinets in order to make them fit. You can't even notice.