Well I’ve finally got my MP3 head unit installed in my new (to me) car. As I write this I realize that I haven’t told my car story here, but in brief around the beginning of 2003 my mid-eighties Mercedes which served me wonderfully for about a year was replace by a ’98 Chevy Lumina, which is currently on the road to being cool. One of the biggest problems with the Lumina has been that the after-market head unit was hooked up badly and would reset everything every time the car was turned off. This had the unexpected side effect of helping me learn the beginnings of several CDs very well, but never making it to the end. One of the interesting results of this is I was able to time how long it took me to get places very well because the clock would start at 1:00 whenever I turned the car on.

Anyway this was a problem that should have been quickly resolved, since I have a nice Aiwa MP3 head unit from the Benz, but I never seemed to find a weekend when my Dad was home and we both had time during daylight hours to hook everything up. Well today was that day, and we (mostly him) got it hooked up beautifully. I seem to have lost most of my MP3 mix CDs though, so I might have to burn some new ones. I think I’m going to do an artist-based approach, so for example I can have one CD labeled “Brad Mehldau” that will have all of his CDs condensed into one. Fair use is a beautiful thing. Anyway this is the first step to really making this car “mine”. Actually the second, since while my Dad was working on the stereo I was using a razor to take off some stickers from the previous owner. So my car no longer indicates I’m an Aggie fan, say “Worldwide Panic,” “You’re a naughty girl go to my room,” “I don’t mind being stared at,” or “Texas Department of Safety.” What a combination! I left the Cat in the Hat sticker. I miss my old stickers though.