My favorite daughter gave me a webcam for Christmas. Not this Christmas - Christmas a couple years back. Maybe even three.

My favorite daughter is the blonde who's acting like she's quite happy, or excited. That's an advertising poster for the St, Croix Divi Carina Bay Casino. The poster hangs, among other places, at the airport in St, Croix, which is where she lives, and it greets incoming passengers and tourists to the island. She's quite photogenic - just like her old man USED to be..

Anyway. she gave me the camera a couple years back, but I avoided trying to use it because I'm not a techno-wizard. I figured that if I tried to install it, I'd sit around screaming and cursing at the computer all day - and still not get it to work. So I procrastinated - until today that is.

That's because last Tuesday, my favorite grandson made me watch a YouTube music video by some guy who calls himself "Bo," It was good, and it intigued me. I asked the favorite grandson how this Bo did it. His answer was "webcam." Not a sound studio. Not a p.a. system. Not a professional mixer. Just a webcam.

"Are you trying to tell me he got that sound quality from a webcam?" I asked him.

"The webcam comes with a built-in microphone," he replied. 

Wow, I thought to myself, I got a webcam sitting at home in an unopened box - the one Stevie gave me for Christmas a couple years back. How difficult could it be to get it up and running?

So today, around noon, I tore open the box - which is no easy task in and of itself. It's like everything is shrink-wrapped in plastic. You need tools to open everything - scissors, butcher knife, screw driver, box cutter.

Why do they make everything so hard to open any more?

Anyway, I decided to go for it.

My favorite daughter gave me a Gigaware 1.3 megapixel PC camera with mic. I understand the words "camera" and "mic," but that's about it. I don't know if "Gigaware" is the Yugo of the webcam industry or the Corvette, and "megapixels" sounds like Greek to me.

Since it's already a couple years old, I'm sure the technology is outdated, but what do I know. If it works, that's all I care about. If it's obsolete, I'll get one that's state-of-the-art somewhere down the line.

I used to be one of those macho dudes who wouldn't stop to ask directions if I got lost, or couldn't be bothered to read the instructions before trying to assemble anything. But not any more. Let me scream this at you -

READ THE G/D INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE YOU START.

The instructions that came with my Gigaware 1.3 webcam promise that the installation will be as easy as 1, 2, 3.

All I can say is "I'll be the judge of that."

As you're reading the instructions you see the parts that are supposed to be included in the kit. They usually are, but every once in a while something is missing.

It only takes a minute to check the parts.

While you're looking at the instructions and examining the parts, imagine doing what the instructions tell you to do.

This process of forming a mental image of what you intend to do is called "visualization." Visualization can be applied to just about any activity in life.

Okay, I read the instructions. Sounds easy. And I examined the parts. Nothing tricky here, no moving parts. And I saw myself implementing the three steps of the installation process and saw the finished product in my mind. Looks easy.

Time to get started.

As instructed, I popped the CD into the D Drive of my laptop - a Toshiba Satellite. Almost immediately a 1.3 MEGA PC CAMERA screen appeared, with a list of five options. So far, so good.

Now all I had to do was follow the on-screen instructions for my operating system, which is Windows Vista Home Premium.

The 1.3 MEGA PC CAMERA screen appeared.

I clicked the ArcSoft VideoImpression screen, and followed the instructions.

Before long, a VideoImpression 2 icon appeared.

That's that, just one more step left.

All that was left was to plug the webcam's extension into a USB port. A piece of cake.

The only tricky part was figuring out how to adjust the legs of the camera so that it stayed on top of my monitor without falling off. Three or four tries, and I got it.

Now let's see if it works.

It works.

I'm staring at myself on the laptop screen.

Now let's see if I can get it to record. All that I have to do is hit the record button.

OK, here goes ... 

As far as I can tell, there are three functions that my webcam will allow me to perform -

1. video conference - using the webcam for video conferencing over the internet
2. still images - using the webcam to capture still images, you know, pictures, that can be saved on my hard drive ... and then convert a series of pictures into a slideshow, which I have yet to figure out, but will - soon.
3. video capture - using the webcam to record videos and save them on my hard drive

I was most interested in video capture - making my own videos. A couple of clicks - I opened the VIDEOIMPRESSION screen. A little green LED light came alive on the webcam that told me my webcam was working. This was getting exciting - easy to install - and it looked like it was in working order.

Following the on-screen instructions, I clicked Create a New Video. This gave me three more options. Capture From Device was the one I wanted. In other words, I was going to use the webcam to shoot a new video and save it on my laptop.

The instructions also informed me that I was going to record in AVI format - but i have no clue what that means.

So I clicked the record button, and held my breath.

Nothing - except the dreaded "The video you have requested is not available."

But the problem wasn't as bad as it seems.

I can play test01 on my laptop. But I get a video with no audio. I don't know why it comes out "The video you have requested is not available." But it does.

Anyway, it was back to the drawing board. But I was confident. Figured - translate that to "hoped" - all I needed was a few clicks to get the audio up and running.

And I was right. Check out "test02" below.

I was quite pleased with myself. I mean, just look at what I'd accomplished - and in no time. I didn't run a stopwatch, but I don't think it took me half an hour up to this point. And look what I accomplished.

1. 1,2,3 - I'd installed the webcam without a hitch.
2. I figured out how to add audio.
3. I now possessed a home-made video - with audio as well.

So now all I had to do to complete this how-to guide was to load the video onto this hub. And that's where the next problem cropped up.

I couldn't figure out how to upload the video from my laptop directly onto HubPages. So what now? Was this all just a waste of time after all?

Well, you've already seen it wasn't a waste of time. I was able to download the video onto HubPages - and here's how.

You should've already figured out the answer. The clue was the YouTube logo in the bottom right-hand corner of my video.

I went online and joined You Tube. It was a simple process. Took maybe a minute.

Then I uploaded my new videos onto You Tube, saved them, and downloaded them onto HubPages by copying and pasting the You Tube URL.

Nothing to it - other than fiiguring out the system. It was a tremendous feeling of accomplishment, and very empowering.

If I can do it, you can do it.

And now I'm off to bigger and better worlds.

The reason I wanted to do this in the first place goes back to that Bo dude. I wanted to create music videos and share them with the world.

I was in several rock groups in years gone by, none you ever heard of, and none that ever went anywhere. We were competing in the Philadelphia market and the competition was stiff. The little success we achieved was when we took our act onto the road and performed in clubs in the hinter lands. Places like Lancaster and Wilkes-Barre in Pennsylvania, and Albany, NY.

I was not a musician back then, I was a singer. And I'm still not a musician, even though I not dabble at the keyboards. I started playing again to become a member of "The 3 Amigos" - a group that consists of father, son, and grandson. 

We jam it out when we can. Ed's been playing guitar for at least 20 years. Zach, the youngest member, is the best musician in the group. He plays the guitar just like ringin' a bell, and also kicks on the drums and bass, and he's starting to fool around on keyboards now. He also belongs to another group - "Reloaded."

Anyway, I decided to work on my own series of music videos - "Bowe Unplugged." Just me, sitting in my recliner, playing a few songs with no amplification. That's where the unplugged comes in.

And we'll see what happens.

If you're thinking about installing a webcam, I hope this helps. It was as easy as 1,2,3 - and then a couple of little tweaks.

Go for it.

I made a music video for my #1 Babe's birthday. She lives in Las Vegas, about 2,100 miles from where I live, so the ability to webcam is going to come in handy.

It took me, maybe, two minutes to record the video. It's only 46 seconds long, but then it took me around three hours to figure out how to edit it and publish it - which is a poke to write a hub about editing videos. I had to switch back and forth between VideoImpression, the tool that came with the webcam, and Windows Movie Maker - and it was a learning experience the whole time. I'm sure the process can be streamlined, but it's all Greek to me at this point.

I'll show you the video momentarily, but first a minor but important digression.

I did go to the Phillies game the other night and that is the way I looked on the way home. I wasn't in a fistfight. But when I tell people waht really happened, they don't believe me. So let's just say I got in a fistfight.

So there it is - the fruit of my labor - 47 seconds of video that took me four hours to accomplish from start to finish. Other than the technology gltiches, it was easy. And I'll untangle those glitches.

Meanwhile, I'm not unhappy with my first video. On to the bigger and better.