I've Joined The Ranks of Webcam Junkies

Years after the popularization of webcams, I have finally decided to purchase one.

After researching the market, and also being a Mac junkie, I decided on Apple's iSight. It's not some crappy $20 USB 1.1 camera. This is a firewire equipped machine, with the bandwidth capable of streaming VGA-video at 30 frames per second (That's 640 x 480, for you techno geeks).

I actually didn't have a choice, you see, as my musical career has expanded in a new direction.

I was contacted by an old student of mine, who wants to continue studying with me. But there is a problem. It's a huge problem, since he lives about 1800 kilometers away from me.

So we have agreed to teleconference our lessons. And given the nature of lessons, I needed a camera that had the bandwidth to broadcast decent video, hence the iSight camera.

Then, I realized that lugging my computer into my drum studio would be a real pain in the arse, and that a laptop would be the perfect solution, as it would be portable enough to set it up on the fly.

But I have a laptop. Except that I hazed it with whiskey, and dropped it on its head a few times -- and it's still in a coma.

So while I'm spending copious amounts of money, I may as well keep buying useless stuff, so this week I bought a logic board on eBay, and am in the process of finding a new iBook display. I plan on resurrecting my laptop, hopefully giving it a new lease on life.

Although, I should warn you, taking apart, fixing, and successfully re-assembling a laptop is not for the faint of heart. I barely have faith in myself that I successfully could do the job properly. I think it's going to take a few drinks, a few Hail Mary's, and a few restless nights before I have it running successfully.