One small disappointment with our new van is that it only has a cassette deck. Fortunately, I was prepared. I already have an aftermarket cd player that I want to install. Of course, that's easier said than done.

I bought the van not even knowing if I would be able to easily get behind the dash (that was the problem with installing it in our Lumina). It turns out that's the easy part in this case. The center part of the console open right up.

My problem is with connecting the speakers. I purchased a wiring kit to connect the new stereo with the vehicle's existing connectors. Unfortunately, while the radio turns on and plays I can't hear anything. I was able to hook up a computer speaker and hear that, so I know it's playing. It just won't go through the van's speakers.

I have two thoughts on what the problem might be. The first is that the wiring connector is just cheap and doesn't work, but I've tried two connectors already. The other is that there is an amp back in there further, and something in the original radio was sending a signal to turn the amp on that the new radio doesn't do because it has it's own built in amp. In that case nothing plays, because the amp will never send any new signal.

If the problem is an amp, I'll need to either find a way to turn it on or bypass it, or I'll have to just give up. Hopefully I'll be able to think of something. In the mean-time, Melody and I are becoming re-acquainted with our old Acappella tapes.

I had a headlight burn out on the Aveo today. That's the fourth one in the three years I've had the car.

The most memorable was when two bulbs went out a once. It was near the beginning of last winter, but we'd already had a lot of snow, resulting in some new pot holes. It was a particularly cold evening and I hit a pot hole. Both bulbs died at once, and I had to drive half of the way home with no lights. Fortunately daylight held until I was almost in town, but it still wasn't very fun.

Now back to the current incident. Melody was going to Walmart today anyway, so she'll pick up a new bulb and I'll put it in after work tomorrow evening.

Update: I'm getting too good at this. It only took about 10 minutes to change out the bulb. Sigh: I suppose that's not a good thing.