This morning I turned in the keys to my old apartment, after spending some hours of the past few days moving the last few things out (my 25-gallon aquarium being the biggest challenge), cleaning up, and un-doing some of the modifications I’d made (removing all the X10 controllers, plastering the cable routing holes I’d drilled, etc. When I did the walk-through with the apartment manager she seemed quite impressed with all the cleaning I’d done; I’m guessing many tenants don’t even bother. It remains to be seen how much of my $600 deposit I’ll get back; from what I’ve heard of others’ experience, I’m not that optimistic.

Anyway, at least that’s over and done with, and now I can fully devote myself to moving in to the new place: unpacking, placing furniture, decorating, and of course, setting up my computers, electronics and networks. I’m still trying to figure out the details of my network topology: where to put my server, gateway, hub, wireless antenna, etc. My new place is laid out roughly like this:

The single door leading into the master bedroom, with the attached bathroom and walk-in closet, creates a feeling of an “inner sanctum” within the apartment. One of the nice things about the new place is that it’s heated electrically with separate thermostats in each room, so I can keep my bedroom warm and cozy while saving power in the rest of the apartment.