Mr. Handyman
I’m not really the hands-on type of guy. I can manage to change light bulbs and drive nail into a board when needed, but I’m better with software (undo is so handy…why isn’t there an undo button for real life?).
This weekend I installed stereo units in our cars. I’d never done it before, but figured I’m not dummy, so why not try. Both of our 1995 cars still had the factory units in them, and they weren’t fancy. No CD, and certainly no MP3!
I researched for about 6-8 months before deciding on a unit. I went with the Sony CDX-GT200
I’d had a $100 gift certificate with Amazon.com for months and decided to use it. Amazon sells the unit using Crutchfield.com. My father used to get Crutchfield catalogs and had used them before, so I figured it was a safe order. I peppered them with questions before ordering (just to make sure all the freebies would still come–they did).
I placed the order last Monday morning, had confirmation a few hours later, and that afternoon got an email saying I needed to contact them with my vehicle information. I called, they put the order in process, and it was shipped that night. The package included all of the installation gear, and arrived Wednesday afternoon (free shipping, too!).
I had three hours on Saturday available so I started the install. It wasn’t pretty at first. My brother-in-law Mike came over to help, and I had to call tech support once for help, but we managed to run all the wires (all the way to the back of the Explorer), splice the wires and get it working. It didn’t lock into place, but it worked.
Sunday I started on my wife’s Accord. Under the center console I found dove shaped confetti from our wedding (1996) and a receipt for gas from Ames, IA dated May 1997 (our trip to a wedding in Minnesota). Her install was much easier, though I did call to make sure I got the blue wire for the power antenna right. But again, her unit wasn’t locking in place.
One more call and I managed to figure out the locking problem. Simple and easy, if only the instructions had been a touch better (overall they were great, but included a lot of extra similar vehicles and speaker replacement instructions, too).
There was only one other problem. My wife said her CD player wasn’t working, so I had to troubleshoot it. It was making a very loud annoying noise. I had tested it with the radio, but didn’t have a CD before she needed the car. It turned out to be a speaker wire splice that didn’t stay in place, so I had to redo it. That was it!
All told, I spent about 4-5 hours installing two stereos in our cars this weekend, and taught two FPU course, spent time with my kids and wife, attended church and a Valentine’s Day dinner, but I missed the first NASCAR race of the year.
The TiVo was aimed for Saturday night, but rain delayed the race until Sunday afternoon. I was in a media blackout because I didn’t want to hear who won before I could watch it. I sure hope it’s sunny and bright for the Daytona 500 next week. The TiVo will be running again, and I’ll be on the couch between church and FPU to see what I can see, and finish it after class. So no, I can’t change that light bulb that’s out next Sunday. I’ll have to take care of it Saturday.
James