I drove past the Edgar Poe grave Sunday night, since yesterday was the 200th anniversary of his birth. There were only a couple of people there, but apparently by midnight there were several dozen. They go there every year to see the 'Poe Toaster', the guy who since the late 60's has snuck up to the grave late at night and put half a bottle of Hennesy and 3 roses on his grave. I didn't see him, since he comes later than I wanted to stick around in that area (watchers have been mugged before while waiting around), but it was lit rather dimly and the graveyard is small enough that you can get a rather good view. My cameraphone doesn't do dim, so I've got nothing but blur to show about that.

It snowed the past few days, which my dog seemed to like, moreso than I did. My truck windows froze shut and inhibited my drive-through coffee upload a little. I might get one of those remote starters, if it's not difficult to bring it to my next vehicle when the time comes. It sucks getting into an icebox every morning.

I finally got rid of my fishtank, which I've had since early grad school. My ghost knife fish and pleco with it, along with copious accessories. Thank you craigslist. $50 cash is an order of magnitude less than I invested in it, but it had become a liability of precious kitchen counter space, my money, and my feng shui was all kagoo. So a young guy and his teeny girlfriend came by a couple days ago to take it, and as I expected they couldn't lift it without scaring me that he'd drop it and spill 15 gallons of AW HELL NAW all over my carpet. I siphoned it to a couple gallons and off he went, giving me ample space to lay out my new steamer and slow-cooker. Ahhhhh.




When I filled out my absentee ballot, one of the Indian post-docs who witnessed it asked me who I voted for; I told him I'd tell him after the inauguration. I since decided I won't tell him or anyone else, likely, because it doesn't matter. Hail to the chief, baby.