Hearing Voices

Last night I was playing a game on the Xbox 360 when I suddenly started hearing a weird voice that sounded like it was coming from the wall. I couldn't quite understand what it said but it was just a few words, like "(something) (something) back." The game did have sound effects and music going on, but this voice didn't fit at all, and it was talking at the same time as some of the conversation in the game. I was so surprised to hear the voice when I was alone in the house that I sat bolt upright on the couch and looked around.

My first thought was that maybe it was a glitch in the game. Maybe a bug had triggered a sound file to play at the wrong time. But that didn't really make sense because the voice was so unlike all the other voices in the game, and it didn't even sound like it was coming from the game at all. I wondered if I just imagined it -- it was getting to be pretty late, maybe I had started to drift off to sleep without realizing it. I kept playing.

A few minutes later I heard the strange voice again, saying "(something) exit." Again it didn't fit with the game at all, and now I was really starting to wonder what was going on. I couldn't come up with a theory that fit. Someone was hiding in my closet and mumbling? The TV was picking up another signal from somewhere else? It was a ghost? I was hallucinating?

Another few minutes passed and the voice clearly said "Newline. Exit."

Wait a minute, I thought, what kind of a ghost or intruder says "newline?" That must have something to do with the computer. I went over to the computer and discovered the answer to the mystery.

Hours earlier I had set up the computer to send its system audio to the stereo. I had forgotten to turn this back off. I had also forgotten to turn off the stereo and the computer. And one of my cats was sitting on top of the keyboard, pressing keys that were activating various menus. Somehow the random keys the cat had pressed had turned on text-to-speech audio options, and then every few minutes when the cat walked on the keyboard and typed some more, the computer would "say" various things and send it all through the stereo.

I was amazed by how the weird series of events required to create the "ghost" had all come together: the computer and stereo left on, the application that sends system audio to the stereo left running, the cat on the keyboard pressing just the right keys, other noises making it hard to tell where the voice was coming from, and me alone in the house, not looking in the direction of the computer.

Or maybe the cat was doing it on purpose, and the next time this happens the voice will say "give me more leftover salmon."

Cherry Blossoms

Cherry blossoms in Washington Park, Portland, Oregon.

Sweet F.A. fashion show

Last night was the Sweet F.A. fashion show by Doom Town Productions at the Fez Ballroom.

• Slide show
• Photo set

Skateboarding at Portland International Raceway

Today was opening day at PIR, with some special activities. The day started at 7am with a nature walk, where we saw a coyote lurking in the tall grass.



Then at 8:30 the track was opened to pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles. So I got out my skateboard and took two laps around the track. Both of these laps were longboard pumping the whole way (that is, my feet did not touch the ground at any time during the lap). My best skateboard lap time was 13 minutes, 4 seconds. The course is a 1.94 mile lap.



The PIR track is quite good for longboard pumping. The track is flat and the pavement is smooth.


Later in the day the track was available to motor vehicles, so I also drove 3 laps (not at racing speeds, though).

Hell's Belles at Dante's

Last night I went to see Hell's Belles at Dante's in Portland. They're an all-female AC/DC tribute band. This was my first time seeing them, and the show was fun, energetic, and musically impressive.



My Hell's Belles photoset on Flickr

Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside

I went to The Woods last night to see Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside. (Flickr photoset)

I really enjoyed the concert. Sallie's sound is hard to describe, but it's kind of like a folk-pop sound with a hint of Billie Holiday and a touch of bluegrass.

Perfectly Balanced

Today we saw this out the window. It started a discussion about how the (actual) sky looked "fake." We have gotten so used to seeing manipulations, special effects, Photoshopped pictures, and all manner of fakery, that an unusual-looking real event seems like it must be some sort of a con. Like it is the last straw that proves we are really living in a manufactured reality like in The Truman Show.

But this was a lenticular cloud over Mt. Hood. It stayed perfectly lined up like that for a few minutes, then it was gone.

Awareness

This is my first photo for Project 10-50.

The Ten

People online have been discussing whether 2010 should be pronounced "twenty ten" or "two thousand ten." I think we should go for short and snappy, and just call it "The Ten." Kind of like "The O.C."

Snowstorm

I took this photo at night during a snow storm. I processed it in Lightroom and tried to make it look more like a drawing.

Geese

The weather has been so cold lately that the pond at the Portland Chinese Garden froze about 3 inches thick. It was thick enough for this man to walk all the way across the pond.

Hawthorne Bridge Sunset

Frost Rose

Hawthorne Bridge at night

Flower Swirl

Taken with the Lumix ZS-1 in macro zoom mode, with flash. Walking on my lunch hour, I keep hunting for flowers and other things to photograph.

Dreamscape: the tree by the lake

Raw ingredients: a piece of a strange looking vine, a parking lot, a puddle. Once again I was looking for a way to take an interesting picture in a spot where there didn't seem to be much of visual interest.

Rosemary

Small Blades Big Sky

This is an interesting looking building in Portland. It's hard to get a good view of it from street level. I probably need to find another vantage point.

Edge of winter

November is a strange time of year to be thinking about outdoor flower photography, especially for roses, but look what I found in my garden today.