ordered one of those cool drain valves. thanks for posting link madscience! wont work on our other cars, but should be nice on the van
my van sits off ground just high enough to get a 5g bucket underneath it with all four tires on ground to drain oil into. still on my back, but it really is a lot easier than changing the oil in my cars. don't even need to jack up the van
I usually end up punching a hole in the bottom of the filter to drain it before trying to remove it. that way I don't get oil all over it and me. a hot slippery oil filter makes a pretty big mess when dropped into a bucket of hot runny oil, lol.