Put up a mailbox yesterday at the new home with mega help from M and C. Now the mail carrier will quit holding my mail hostage at the local post office. They will bring it to me. PPut it in the new metal box. Christmas morning from the federal govt now, 6 days a week. So, I got hoards of bills that had been collecting during the move. Most overdue. But you don't want to hear about that. You want to hear about my two new books: Iterature by Eugene Ostashevsky. I have been waiting for this bad boy for months. He is tops on the list, for the most part, of poets I am excited about. I love Mr. Ostashevsky's poetic mind and can't wait to rip through his pages. This is also a reminder for renewing my Ugly Duckling Presse subscription. I also got Peter O' Leary's new chapbook from Dos Madres. The name of which escapes me at the moment. Also a big O'Leary fan. Both poets have been more than instrumental to Octopus. So, to the two of you: Thanks for that, and thanks for books.

Got to catch up on the shotty cell phone with big time friends Matt and Jill. They are in Ames now, a short 3 hr drive away from Lincoln. Looking forward making the trek--maybe this weekend.

Buying an old house (pictures soon when the internet gets to my house!) is cool. This one is a beauty. But the plumbing, we learned, is shot. A stab in the heart of our new house momentum. May your showers and craps at our house be few and far between.

I'm a new student and a new teacher this week. Wish me luck, won't you.