My wife and I met Joe Haldeman, author of THE FOREVER WAR and numerous other science fiction novels and stories, and his wife, at the local train station last Friday.  Despite the early pre-noon hour, we got them checked into their hotel and then visited Philadelphia's Edgar Allan Poe house.  Poe lived here only about 4 years, but while here he wrote "The Raven" "The Black Cat" and other major works.  The house itself is bare and bleak-looking on the inside, but the adjoining house has a number of exhibits and a video about Poe.  It's free, run by the National Park Service, and is worth seeing if you happen to be in Philadelphia.
  Joe gave an excellent talk Friday evening at the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society on a variety of subjects.  I was impressed that he and his wife had bicycled across the US from Florida to California.  They are in their mid-sixties, and it made me forget about feeling old at a mere 60.
  As a result I've decided to exercise more than I have been and lose about 20 lbs.