My day started at 5:30 AM, when Liz and I got up extra early to take the cats to the new apartment. Luckily for us, they cooperated for the most part and didn't put up too much of a fight. I left Liz alone with the cats at the new place and took the subway back to the old apartment. I finished up some unplugging and cleaning up, and waited for the movers to arrive. The Moishe's crew appeared exactly at 7:50 AM. At 8 AM they started packing all of our stuff, while I did my best to stay out of the way. They took a few coffee and smoke breaks, but even so it only took them 2 ½ hours to pack everything we owned. I took a cab to the new apartment, trying not to worry about the crew taking our stuff and disappearing while demanding more money. (I've seen too many horror stories on “Dateline.”) At 11:30 the truck pulled up in front of the new apartment. One hour of unloading later, and the movers were gone. Letting them do the packing along with the moving was the best decision we've made so far. There was no room in the old, tiny apartment for us to pack and live at the same time. And the packing would have taken us an extra week; I figured that if we're paying rent in two places for June, we might as well live in the larger one for as much of the month as possible. The only bad thing about having the movers pack everything was that they didn't label the boxes as they packed them, so we had to open every box to know where things were. But even that wasn't terrible: it was all here, just hidden away in 40+ boxes. At this point, it's 11:45 PM, and we've unpacked the entire kitchen, bathroom, and most of the clothes for the bedroom and the closets. The living room stereo equipment is still in boxes, as is my computer. Usually that's the first thing I unpack, but since I have my laptop, I don't need the PC yet. And I don't have broadband until Monday at the earliest, so I'm stuck looking for open Wifi access points in my building. (So far, I've found two, though neither one is a strong signal. But wireless networking is a fantastic, beautiful thing.) Tomorrow we'll finish the living room and start on the office. The landlord has to finish some painting in the apartment, and the plumber has to fix the drain in the bathroom sink, but by early next week it will be completely livable.

I still can't believe we're here, that we have so much space, and that we are as far along in our unpacking as we are. At 4 PM today, I was happily watching the cable guy set up my new digital connection, while Liz puttered away in the kitchen, stowing our food and cookware. Four years ago, at the same hour of the day, immediately after the move, I was in tears from the lack of sleep and the sheer amount of stuff we were trying to cram into the tiny apartment in the Village. (I'm man enough now to admit that at the time, I cried like a baby. And that Liz told me to snap out of it and get back to work.) So this time around it's a much better experience. I'm not sure we'll ever move again, this place is so amazing. We actually need to buy things to put in our spare storage areas. Is that crazy or what?