Inserting 'Dates' in database

I am writing a simple Java user interface to a simple data base in
Postgresql.
I have no trouble connecting through my code using the JDBC driver. I can
get several different Resultsets back with no problem. I am having trouble
inserting data into the database. In particular Date data types. I get a
message that says "Bad Date external representation".
Here is how I am trying to solve the problem:
I am getting a text string from the user interface and storing it in a
String varialble called " dateInsert".
Using a method I wrote call "convertDate()" , I am converting this date
first to a java.util.Date object, a time object and finally to a
java.sql.Date object called "sqldate" which I include in the Insert
statement.

here is the code snippet for the "convertDate() method:
<pre>
public java.sql.Date convertDate()
{
java.util.Date adate;
DateFormat fmt = DateFormat.getDateInstance(DateFormat.SHORT,
Locale.US);
try {
aDate = fmt.parse(dateInsert); // dateInsert is String from
JTextPane;
long time = aDate.getTime();
sqldate = new java.sql.Date(time);
}
catch (ParseException e)
{
System.out.println(e);
}
return sqldate;
} //end of convertDate()
</pre>

I pent allmost 18 hours trying to work this out yesterday and have run out
of ideas. Can anyone suggest a direction for me?

Thanks
Dan McDaniel
Director of Architecture and Facility Planning
ext. 2048
beeper 1152