So I saw the Craigslist post in tor-talk and checked to find that I'm at full speed with them. Since I'm an exit relay (residential, US, 15 months) and have been experiencing the CL Dial-Up Retro for a few months, I was surprised. It turns out that I have a new IP address so for the moment I'm a shiny new exit.
Two days ago I installed a new router. Nothing special: $45 Linksys but selected specifically for use with DD-WRT. ROM burn and set-up was done completely offline. It took maybe a minute to do the router hot swap and all went well. IP address change never crossed my mind. After all, I was down for four days back in the winter (ice storm) and hoping for a new address when we came back up. No luck.
Is this normal? Or at least not unusual? It seems a bit spooky to me. I thought the address was tied to the cable modem (ISP's equipment) and they couldn't care less about my LAN. :-\

Thanks
Rick