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So should I buy another Web cam?

May 6, 2010, 11:25 PM

I’ve been tossing around the idea for a while of buying another Web cam. One may recall that from 2000 to 2003, I had a feature on this site where I had a Web cam that transmitted a still picture to the site every two minutes. So Web cams and Schumin Web are definitely not unfamiliar concepts.

However, before you start thinking I’m going to resurrect the old Web cam feature, forget it. I am so over that. That feature is dead, and is staying dead.

Actually, I’m thinking about the possibility of doing some Journal entries in video format. I think it would be fun, and I could convey some things that I can’t do in written form, like tone of voice, and hand movements and such.

Of course, that requires actually having a Web cam of some sort. The Web cams that I had in the days of the old Web cam feature are long gone. I either threw them away, gave them away, or they’re buried somewhere in my parents’ house. However, you slice it, I don’t have them. Besides, those old cameras were a pain to deal with anyway, and modern cameras are far superior to and cheaper than the old ones, which by now would be eight and ten years old. Right now, the only access I have to a Web cam is the iSight camera on my office Mac, and there are a whole host of reasons why I will never “video blog” for Schumin Web from the office.

So what do you think? Is it worth pursuing? I think it might be fun, plus I could also use it for videoconferencing with friends and such when I’m not doing video Journal entries. Let me know – drop a note on Schumin Web’s Facebook page, or tweet something @SchuminWeb (though admittedly, I don’t know how to use the Twitter as well as I should).

Otherwise, I learned how to play bocce today with several of my coworkers at Stead Park after work. That’s a pretty fun game, with the idea being to get your team’s balls closer to the goal than your opponent’s (I’m sorry, I tried, but I couldn’t come up with a way to avoid making an unintentional “balls” reference). The team that is closest to the goal wins points based on how many balls are closer to the goal than the other team’s closest ball.

The whole thing kind of reminds me of curling to an extent. Kind of like “field curling”, I suppose. You’ve got a predetermined goal, and the idea is to get as close to it as possible, and you can also knock out your opponent’s pieces just like in curling. And, like curling, I’m sure you can play bocce while pregnant and wearing hoop earrings, too.

But I certainly had fun. And for the next time I play the bocce, I know what to work on, and that’s control. I have a stronger throw than I realized, and learning how to refine that throw and make the ball hug that goal is something worth pursuing. After all, more coordination is always a good thing, no?

Web site: The Complete Guide to Video Blogging

Song: Jeff Hyslop discusses his more recent work in theaters. For the record, it still looks really strange seeing Jeff Hyslop without a hat on.

Quote: Meanwhile, we also played frisbee while we were in the park. I was running around enough that I did something I rarely ever do in a public place - kick off my shoes (flip flops in this case) and go barefoot. See, I have really sensitive feet, and thus I feel everything when I go barefoot. But this worked. Good, clean grass with no loose stones or anything.

Categories: Computer, Schumin Web meta