Damn Big Jim Sykes! DAMN HIM!!!!!! Coming home from the train station today, I couldn’t get myself to break away from the Elvis channel! Big Jim just had to play one great Elvis song after another! I can just see myself forgetting that there are a ton of other great channels out there on XM and only listening to Elvis.

Lisa and I met Big Jim Sykes when we were at ElvisWeek back in August. I’m gonna tell you a secret. Big Jim is not big. In fact, I’d say he’s wee. Want proof? Check out this picture of the three of us and note how Lisa and I are crouching to make him appear big. That’s the kind of girls we are… kind.

I gotta say Big Jim was a great sport. You see this photo was taken right after I insisted that he only played the same 5 Elvis songs over and over again and he should meet a real Elvis DJ like Rockin’ Ron Cade from WOGL. Please note I hadn’t spent any considerable time listening to him and I guess I was just feeling belligerent that day since I now really enjoy his show.

This morning everything was changed! At least on my XM dial. Actually, very little has seemingly changed– there have been some great additions though. The XM and Sirius merger is complete and the two are almost now one. The channels have merged and I am left wondering which of my favorite DJs are looking for work? Terry “Motormouth” Young is still listed on the XM Web site so I must assume he’s still around. Bruce Berenson and his weekly Rockabilly Roadtrip is missing from the Web site and I am worried he may be gone from the XM airwaves. High Standards has become Siriusly Sinatra. Some good news is that I now get the one and only 24/7 Elvis only channel that was once only for Sirius subscribers. I also get Underground Garage that is produced by “Little Steven” Van Zandt who is apparently a member of Bruce Springstein’s backing band.

Here’s my new presets:
50s on 5
60s on 6
70s on 7
80s on 8
Elvis – 18
Underground Garage – 59
Siriusly Sinatra – 73
1st Wave – 44 (70’s and 80’s Alternative)
Hair Nation – 41 (’80s Hair Bands)
RoadHouse – 10 (60s’ & ’70s Country)
BB King’s Bluesville – 74
The Verge – 87 (Emerging Artists)
The Joint – 86 (Reggae)
Radio Margaritaville – 55
Real Jazz – 70
Classic Vinyl – 46
Faction – 52 (Action Sports/Punk/Ska)
Classic Rewind – 49 (’70s & ’80s Classic Rock)
Cosmo Radio – 162 (Girl Talk)
Oprah & Friends – 156 (Bullshit)

I brought my Watergate salad to Erin’s Halloween Party. To make it more festive, I decorated it with marshmallow eyeballs (my mom made them).

I am trying to tap my psychic powers and predict the outcome of the presidential election. Although it seems as if Obama is the man, I think McCain is gonna take it. I am not happy either way. I really don’t welcome the idea of either bozo winning. And really, this year has been one loss after the other for me. Ron Paul, Rosemont College, uhhh, there was something else wasn’t there? It seemed like more than that. Oh well, they were big losses for me. So whoever wins, whatever. I’ll figure out a way to survive. I’ll keep going. And everything else will too.

Philaldelphia Magazine has a good article this month on being single and the dating scene. I was a little hesitant to read it having gone through it personally. I was pleasantly surprised at how she really nailed the whole Match.com experience at least from the female perspective. The endless (witless) emails, the stupid “winks,” the guys who seemed to get their jollies wasting girls’ time, the great dates that just never called back, trying to figure out how to sanely deal with the rejection…. It was especially nice how she ended the article without having found her soul mate. In fact, she found a guy she liked but he never called her back. That, my friends, is a lot more typical than the smiling couples they show on their commercials. It took me awhile but I did find somebody on Match.com. What kills me is I still haven’t gotten over the whole experience leading up to it. I mean, I think back to it and I still feel the rejection just as deeply now as I did then. It was truly pulverizing. Online dating is not for the weak, that’s for sure. I do hope the author finds love and she doesn’t have to go through torture to find it.

Erin’s party was a blast! And I was a designated driver so for me to say it was fun means it was fun without the added benefit of alcohol. I went to Target yesterday afternoon hoping to find a costume. Target was totally sold out. There were only a few adult sized costumes left. I got a Rock n’ Roll Pirate jacket for my pookie bear and I got a WONDER WOMAN COSTUME for me! I tried it on over my jeans and turtleneck and it seemed to fit. I brought it home and ripped off the tags and tried it on… and although it was okay at first, the more I walked around the house the more it started to slip. But then I had a brilliant idea! I put my strapless bathing suit top on underneath it thinking it might fill me out more. Unfortunately it didn’t work. I ditched the outfit. In it’s place I put on my Wonder Woman underroo top and over it I wore my black dress that zips up the front. It has a nice 60’s look to it. So then I just unzipped the dress a little to show my Wonder Woman top underneath. I thought it would be a hit but unfortunately I think everyone just thought I looked silly and maybe a little sluttish because the dress was a tad bit too short. Oh well!

Talking to my mom on the phone this morning she told me I should have paired the Wonder Woman outfit with a navy blue turtleneck and tights and I would have been okay. Why does this not surprise me?

I am having this odd desire to infuse my diet with lentils and beans. I don’t know why. (Perhaps I am getting tired of triscuits, pickles and cottage cheese?) I found this entry and it links to a ton of different lentil recipes. I couldn’t get through it this morning so I decided to link to it here. This way I won’t lose it and I can explore it later.