Thanks all for the advice.
I changed my oil myself despite the siren call of Jiffy Lube, hard to resist when worming around under my car on my midwest-winter mud/snow/grime infested garage floor.
In the process I found out that the independent Euro-mechanic who last changed the oil apparently likes power tools. I was afraid the drain plug wasn't going to come free without damage. Even the air filter nuts were absurdly tight! Yet another reason not to go back to them.
It also gave me the chance to remove about 30 pounds of grime from my lower engine cover. I installed that a few months ago but it seems to do a better job of retaining grime than keeping it out.
I may invest in one of those fancy
Fumato oil drain valves, the kind with a nipple for a tube. Seems like that would be a way of avoiding a lot of mess without resorting to the Topsider route -- could drain right into an empty oil container for recycling.
Maybe also cut a hole or flap in my engine cover to allow draining the oil without removing the cover -- anyone done that?