By Mike Robbins

I'm officially a pisan now — well, almost. I just rented an apartment in Brooklyn, N.Y. Now I know what you're thinking, "Oh that place is full of hot tempered mafia who are big and scary." Well, think again. There's going to be a red headed German boy joining the "family." No, it's not Kevin Devine.

A month after I wrote an article about how to find an apartment, I found one in the merry borough of Brooklyn — Dyker Heights, to be exact, which is between Bensonhurst and Bay Ridge. It's on the third floor of a quaint, light blue house with a white, steel fence; all of which I will call home as of May 1st.

The steps are narrow and creek a bit, but it's so charming and you know what; it's mine. There's no elevator. It's not an institutionalized, prison-like dormitory. Oh, and there's no noise! A short walk to the B train, and I'm in the city in half an hour.

Ignoring my schoolwork the past three weeks has been a bad idea, but some things have to suffer. I've been going out to Brooklyn for the past three weekends looking at places and checking out neighborhoods. I've B'd, N'd and R'd all over the place. Yahoo! was where I got really lucky though. I had it set up to send me alerts, via e-mail, for new apartment listings in Brooklyn.

I called up in response to one of the ads in my e-mail alert from Yahoo! Real Estate and found my savior: Susan. She became my broker and helped me through every step.

We went to look at one place on a Saturday and it was nice, but the better and cheaper one we saw the next day was perfect. She drove me around, showed me the area, and explained where to go and where not to go. Living in the area herself, she was beyond helpful.

That Sunday night after seeing the apartment, I went home, made a few calls to arrange some funds, and called Susan back to tell her that this would be the place. After handing in a deposit, broker's fee, and having a credit check, I secured the apartment. It was mine. It is mine. Finally, no more Fordham dorms. No more elevators that stop on every floor. Best of all, no one eating my food but me!