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I love Lucy @ HamsterTracker.com
© Copyright 2005, Peacoque Labs

My current hamster Lucy 2.0! My hamster Lucy, tracked with HamsterTracker™
Powered by Peacoque Labs, Eindhoven, the Netherlands

Created by Mathijs van der Paauw
- Online since September 5th, 2004 -
RSS 2.0    http://feeds.feedburner.com/HamstertrackertmRssStream
It is really doing what it has been designed to do; Tracking my hamster Lucy!

Our favorite internet DJ's, (6 banners, rotate every 15 sec.) DJ Mitch, DJ Quincy Jointz, DJane Vibrella, Simon Harrison, Christina Long & DJ Elliot:
Our favorite internet DJ's: (alphabetical order)
DJ Christina Long (www.citrona.net/sorbet.htm), DJ Mitch (www.djmitch.it), DJ Quincy Jointz (www.quincy-jointz.de), DJane Vibrella (www.vibrella.de), Simon Harrison (www.basic-soul.co.uk). To name a few.

Current News:

Current News  |   News Archive  |   Older archive  |   Oldest Archive (pre Lucy 2.0)

Lucy 2.0 Best Photographs  |   Extreme HamsterTrackin'

MaCheIdea.com - Looking for something different ... radio42 - Music for Lounge-Lovers.



My current hamster Lucy 2.0
My hamster Lucy 2.0



Proud to have
been blogged by:

MakeZine.com August 25, 2005

CuteOverload.com march 12, 2006
march 29, 2006


Tuesday, March 21, 2006 - day 278 - current treadmill total: 376,728.00 meters! (19:45 CET)



Fun with cable ties; the less than € 0,09 camera mount
(Prototype)


Besides having fun with Lucy i've also been doing some little invention stuff.
Frequent readers may know that I've recently got a Logitech Quickcam Express camera as Webcam no. 5.

Sadly this camera doesn't have a standard camera mount. I am not really satisfied with the supplied camera-'foot' because it doesn't give much flexability when setting up the camera.

Picture of Logitech Webcam Express's underside. Detail picture of Logitech Webcam Express's underside.

The camera is upside-down in this picture




I'd bought a 100 cable ties (€2.20 (That's a whopping 2.2 €-cents per cable-tie!)) a few weeks earlier, as being an always good investment. Having this (I dared myself) and also bought a micro-tripod last weekend.

I have always enjoyed playing around with cable ties because they have such divergent use capabilities: So here's what I came up with this time: whilst playing around:

Picture of my cable tie invention!


4 cable ties, hold the camera on the (€ 4.99) tripod. [The nut, I found in somewhere, doesn't really fit (at least it holds the cable tie down!). This costs (therefore) € 0.00]


Picture of my cable tie invention!

And another view... Although it doesn't have the looks (yet), it is very functional indeed!

It was quite a challenge to make; it's like a complicated 3D puzzle, which tie to set first, second etc...
I am quite pleased with the result, but I hope I can do better!


Picture of my cable tie invention!

Ofcourse I need to cut off the excess cable-tie material in the final design!


Total cost: € 4.99 + ( 4 * 0.022 ) = € 4.99 + 0.088 = € 5.08 (rounded)

Ofcourse this is the first prototype; so costs could run up an extra (5 x € 0.022 = € 0.11); 'cause I am planning to use one more cable tie in the final design!




Sunday, March 19, 2006 - day 276 -
current treadmill total: 375,682.44 meters! (11:15 CET)



Lucy's game


Lucy has invented her own game, whilst being on the couch.
She tries to climb up the couch to explore the table, behind it.

Whenever I put my hand above or below her, she'll give it up and slide back down again. Quite funny and amusing to watch!

Occasionally the smart little critter creeps through. Luckily I had my camera ready, and shot the following photograph:


Picture of Lucy climbing off the couch!
" Touch down! " - Lucy




Saturday, March 18, 2006 - day 275 - current treadmill total: 375,512.22 meters! (12:25 CET)

Picture of my 5th webcam that's currently online

HamsterTracker™ webcam no. 5 now online!


After quite a bit of work, the HamsterTracker™ system is now running 5 webcams.
Every 15 seconds, a new picture of a different camera is uploaded to the website.

check it yourself on my Webcams page


USB-expansion - Technical stuff


Before I could even attempt to hookup another (USB) camera, I needed to add extra USB ports.
Even though I use a USB-HUB to share more USB devices on the available ports, it still wasn't enough.
And I was also getting, USB Bandwidth exceeded errors.
Therefore I decided that the last empty PCI-slot in the computer will be used to add extra USB (2.0, the fast ones) ports.

Picture of emtpy PCI-slot. Picture of PCI-slot now with USB interface card installed.
This is the second USB-card that's installed now, totalling of 8 USB (2.0) ports. Six on the rear of the machine, two inside.

Picture of the rear of my machine, with extra USB ports.


Because the two internal USB ports, are used externally (CD/DVD-burner and TV-tuner) I hooked them up the following way:

Picture USB-cables. Picture USB-cables.
Picture USB-cables. Picture USB-cables.


Now I can start hooking it all up again...

Picture cables hooked up to the computer.

It is all installed now, and seems to be functioning correctly!

I had a few problems, which magically disappeared when I updated the lastest USB-driver!
Now all seems to function correctly, ofcourse further tests need to prove this!

And I have a few free USB ports! (Another webcam???) Dunno, yet...




Thursday, March 16, 2006 - day 273 - current treadmill total: 373,881.00 meters! (17:00 CET)



More Extreme HamsterTrackin'


Just in: Linda (HamsterTracker™ correspondent in Beijing), updated me on her HamsterTracker™ promotion tour:

HamsterTracker(tm) Photographs made in Mongolia

Extreme HamsterTrackin' in Mongolia


Lucy promotion in Mongolia
"Very Artfull photograph Linda! " - Mathijs


Lucy promotion in Mongolia



More Extreme HamsterTrackin' on the Trans Syberia Express

HamsterTracker(tm) Photograph made in China. Lucy promotion on the Trans Syberia Express


HamsterTracker(tm) Photograph made in Russia
Lucy promotion on the Trans Syberia Express

HamsterTracker(tm) Photograph made in Russia
Lucy promotion on the Trans Syberia Express
This picture shows a very anonymous reflection of HamsterTracker™ correspondent Linda!


HamsterTracker(tm) Photograph made in Russia
Lucy promotion in Russia
This photo was shot somewhere between Perm and Irkutsk (near Moscow).

HamsterTracker™ shouts to Linda!


Ooops, I almost forgot...

HamsterTracker™ shouts to Sanne!

Sanne is also an official HamsterTracker™ correspondent in Beijing! Sorry I didn't mention it earlier Sanne!
Sanne had a considerable input in the making of the Extreme HamsterTrackin' in China photographs.


More Extreme HamsterTrackin'



Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - day 272 - current treadmill total: 373,592.84 meters! (17:15 CET)



Lucy's new Ball

Lucy's explorer ball was in a desperate need of replacement:

Picture of Lucy's old and new Explorer ball Picture of Lucy's old and new Explorer ball
Picture of Lucy's old and new Explorer ball

Lucy loves it! And so do I !


Picture of Lucy looking at herself.
" Cool dude, I can see myself! " - Lucy

Picture of Lucy running in her explorer ball.
" Jipppeeeeeeee! " - Lucy

Picture of Lucy looking at my sock.
" Oh no, not them socks! " - Lucy

Picture of Lucy looking at herself.
" Thanks! I really really really like it " - Lucy





Tuesday, March 14, 2006 - day 271 - current treadmill total: 373,228.66 meters! (18:35 CET)



HamsterTracker™ server - technical stuff


I noticed about two weeks ago that the HamsterTracker™ server didn't keep time correctly.

It was approx. 20 minutes slow every day! Given the fact that the HamsterTracker™ server is about 10 years old, and has had constant use (24/7 since september 5, 2004 when I started this site), it doesn't really surprise me that the internal battery isn't all that anymore.

As a quick fix I installed a neat freeware program Li'l Atomic Clock version 1.0.1 build 15, © 2003 -2005 Neuhaus 13 Software. (German site), click Software then Li'l Tools Serie there you'll find this gem of software.
I configured it so that every hour the HamsterTracker™ time is synchronized with an atomic time clock! How cool is that? Even if I fix the clock thingy, I'll keep this software installed and running.
By the way, the Webcam server is also synchronized by this software, only not that frequent.

Hurray to the office

As it turns out, we had an old (HamsterTracker™ compatible) pc lying around, marked; "Unusable, BIOS defect!". Lucky me; I only need the battery... Sounds easier than it actually is...


The computer from which I hope to get this battery out.
This took a solid two hours of unscrewing stuff, before making this photograph!

Another shot of the donor computer.
Close up of the part I need...



Now I am thinking of a way to get the battery our, without short circuiting it!
Meanwhile I'll stick to the Li'l Atomic Clock software.

The things we do for Lucy!

To be Continued...





Monday, March 13, 2006 - day 270 - current treadmill total: 372,480.16 meters! (16:45 CET)


Picture of freshly popped hamster popcorn.


Lucy's hamster Popcorn


I thought I make a special treat for Lucy.

She has had those mini-corn-on-the-cob before, but never as popcorn. After reading the instructions several times I gave it a go.
15 second bursts in the microwave, after a few of those it sounded like mega-explosions in there. So I stopped.

See the picture, of what a "mess" it became, I am glad I put a microwave friendly top over it.
Ofcourse it had to cool down, before I could even consider offering it to Lucy.

My hamster Lucy trying freshly made popcorn.

She tried a few popcorns, but she loves the uncooked ones!

My hamster Lucy liking uncooked corn the best.




Sunday, March 12, 2006 - day 269 - current treadmill total: 371,896.81 meters! (10:25 CET)



Lucy's Statistical Graphs update


Here's an update of Lucy's latest statistical graphs.

My hamster Lucy lastest statistical graph.
HamsterTracker™ Server crashes:
Day: 12, 30, 44, 57, 67, 68, 76, 90, 91, 96, 99, 116, 182


My hamster Lucy treadmill time graph.

Total Distance Trend Graph:

My hamster Lucy Total Distance graph.


My hamster Lucy water consumption graph.




Friday, March 10, 2006 - day 267 - current treadmill total: 371,700.62 meters! (18:45 CET)

Lucy's squared left (almost complete) U-turn

Another great picture, this time of Lucy doing a squared left (almost complete) u-turn on the table:

Picture of my hamster Lucy doin' a squared left turn on the table.


Needless to mention; I've also added this picture to Lucy's Best Photographs page.




Thursday, March 9, 2006 - day 266 - current treadmill total: 370,990.72 meters! (19:35 CET)

Lucy on the couch

I shot this great picture of Lucy while being on the couch:

Picture of my hamster Lucy posing on the couch.

Needless to mention; I've added this picture to Lucy's Best Photographs page.




Wednesday, March 8, 2006 - day 265 - current treadmill total: 370,482.06 meters! (17:05 CET)



More Extreme HamsterTrackin' in China

Here are fresh new pictures from Linda, HamsterTracker™ correspondent in Beijing:

See also: February 17, 2006 and the all NEW Extreme HamsterTrackin' page.



In and around Linda's house in Beijing

Picture of virtual Lucy in Beijing China.

Picture of virtual Lucy in China.

Picture of virtual Lucy in China.

HamsterTracker™ shouts to Linda!





Tuesday, March 7, 2006 - day 264 - current treadmill total: 370,211.72 meters! (18:45 CET)



Local elections day and Virtual Lucy

Today we have local elections day, and as it seems Virtual Lucy was running for politics.

See also: December 19, 2005, December 13, 2005 and November 17, 2005)



Picture of virtual Lucy, running as politician.


Lucy isn't political minded at all, and therefore I put Virtual Lucy back, in her virtual cage:

Picture of me, putting virtual Lucy back in her virtual cage.

HamsterTracker™ shouts to Sandra,
for making these pictures (with her new camera)!





Monday, March 6, 2006 - day 263 - current treadmill total: 370,160.72 meters! (17:30 CET)



NEW: Webcam no. 4 now online

This weekend, I spend the outrageous amounts of money on a new webcam!

It took 10 minutes of programming to add a fourth camera to the (homemade) HamsterTracker™ Webcam Studio software.

Have a look on the Webcams page!.

Below is a a screenshot of the software that uploads a webcam-snapshot every 15 seconds;
1 update, per minute per webcam.

Screenshot of the HamsterTracker(tm) WebCam Studio server, running 4 camera's.





Friday, March 3, 2006 - day 260 - current treadmill total: 368,303.38 meters! (20:30 CET)



NEW: Best of Lucy 2.0 photographs

I've been selecting, notepad-ding, html-ing like no tomorrow but here is:

Lucy 2.0 Best Photographs (page)!.



I hope you can agree on the selection I've made.

If you have your own favorite,
or if you want to let me know what you think is the best photograph of Lucy,
Mail me: Peacoque.Labs (at) iae.nl or let us know via the HamsterTracker™ guestbook.


Picture of my hamster Lucy exploring my sweater (1).





Thursday, March 2, 2006 - day 259 - current treadmill total: 367,827.34 meters! (17:15 CET)



ISP-Backbone troubles

Yesterday and today, my ISP had some problems with their backbone.
Therefore it could well be that the site was unreachable, and I also couldn't update the site.
They reported that all problems should be resolved now!

Therefore I had all the time in the world to have fun with Lucy.


Picture of my hamster Lucy exploring my sweater (1).

Lucy didn't really like the flash:

Picture of my hamster Lucy exploring my sweater (2).
" No more pictures! Please! " - Lucy



I am starring as background here!
As well as shooting photo's...





Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - day 257 - current treadmill total: 365,633.00 meters! (19:30 CET)



Quality time with Lucy on the couch


I had some great fun with Lucy.
After Lucy ran around in her Explorer Ball in the living room for 20 minutes, it was time to let her out.


(Sorry for the bit blurry pictures;
it was pretty difficult to be a model and a photographer
at the same time
)


Picture of my hamster Lucy in her Explorer Ball.

The next picture we look like an old couple havin' a quarrel:

Picture of my hamster Lucy having a quarrel over the TV-remote .
" Now it's my turn; I wanna see Pinky and the Brain again! " - Lucy


Needless to say, Lucy got her wish!


Although, I don't know if I ever have her watch " the Truman show "!




Monday, February 27, 2006 - day 256 - current treadmill total: 365,389.50 meters! (19:50 CET)



Lucy's freshly cleaned bedroom


I thought that Lucy's bedroom was in a need of some good cleaning.
As it seems the need wasn't that urgent...

Even though, I always leave a fresh special treat in her newly cleaned bedroom:

Picture of my hamster Lucy's newly cleaned bedroom.

And give her a fresh new piece of her favorite treat, for the inconvinience:

Picture of my hamster Lucy enjoying some other new treats.

Ofcourse I give her enough new and fresh food to start her new collection in her bedroom.

Although I leave it up to herself to decorate it!




Sunday, February 26, 2006 - day 255 -
current treadmill total: 365,052.22 meters! (10:10 CET)



Extreme HamsterTrackin' in China!


I got these great pictures of Lucy promotion by Linda.
She shot these pictures in the zoo:

HamsterTracker(tm) promotion in China!

HamsterTracker(tm) promotion in China!

HamsterTracker(tm) promotion in China!

HamsterTracker™-shouts to Linda!

Very cool!




Friday, February 24, 2006 - day 253 - current treadmill total: 363,239.12 meters! (23:10 CET)



Lucy having fun in her explorer ball


I shot this picture of Lucy, and it looks like she is singing in her explorer ball...

Picture of my hamster Lucy enjoying her explorer ball.
" Heeeee-ha! " - Lucy




Thursday, February 23, 2006 - day 252 - current treadmill total: 362,770.78 meters! (17:30 CET)



A visit to the petshop


Today I visited the petshop to buy some treats for Lucy.

Picture of the treats I bought for Lucy


Lucy never had Yohgurt Drops before, a quick test unveiled that she loves it!
She also never had a "Happy Teddy" treat before. I haven't got the chance to give it to her...

Naturally, I've also updated Lucy's Expenses page



Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - day 251 - current treadmill total: 362,480.72 meters! (20:45 CET)



Exclusive download: All new Lucy wallpaper


Have Lucy on your desktop. Download her wallpaper now:

Windows users: Use right click, then Save As on the following link:
Lucy's Desktop 2


My desktop:

My desktop, starring Lucy


The small picture of Lucy's webcam (in the bottom right corner) is not included in the download,
(as well as all the icons that mess up Lucy's picture).





Monday, February 20, 2006 - day 249 - current treadmill total: 360,554.84 meters! (17:20 CET)


Picture of my phone displaying a sms

Lucy promotion on the Trans-Siberia Express


This weekend I got a SMS from Linda. She is currently travelling on the Trans-Siberia Express from Moscow to Beijing.

"...Lucy is having
a great time in the train,
it is an awesome trip.
From Russia with..." - Linda

HamsterTracker™ shouts to Linda!



Picture of my hamster Lucy.
" Who? ... me? " - Lucy





Friday, February 17, 2006 - day 246 - current treadmill total: 359,240.34 meters! (18:10 CET)



Having fun with Lucy


I shot the next great picture of Lucy while on the couch:

Picture of my hamster Lucy on the couch.

Here she's about to have a chew on the camera cord.

This also means that I shot this picture only 10 cm. away from her.






Thursday, February 16, 2006 - day 245 - current treadmill total: 358,401.53 meters! (17:20 CET)



Lucy's Statistical Graphs update


Here's an update of Lucy's latest statistical graphs.

My hamster Lucy lastest statistical graph.
HamsterTracker™ Server crashes:
Day: 12, 30, 44, 57, 67, 68, 76, 90, 91, 96, 99, 116, 182


My hamster Lucy treadmill time graph.


My hamster Lucy water consumption graph.

Total Distance Trend Graph:

My hamster Lucy Total Distance graph.







Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - day 244 - current treadmill total: 358,076.19 meters! (19:50 CET)



Lucy's website country visits


I discovered today that the all (known) countries that had users who visited this site is an astonishing visiting-country-count of 78.

HamsterTracker™ shouts to the following countries, from which Lucy has had the priviledge of a visitor:

Thank you visitors from: Argentina , Australia , Austria , Bahrain , Belgium , Bermuda , Bolivia , Brazil , Bulgaria , Canada , Chile , China , Cocos (Keeling) Islands , Colombia , Costa Rica , Cote D'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) , Croatia (Hrvatska) , Cyprus , Czech Republic , Denmark , Egypt , Estonia , Finland , France , Germany , Greece , Hong Kong S.A.R. , Hungary , India , Indonesia , Iran , Ireland , Israel , Italy , Japan , Korea , Kuwait , Latvia , Liechtenstein , Lithuania , Luxembourg , Malaysia , Mexico , Morocco , the Netherlands , New Caledonia , New Zealand , Norway , Pakistan , Peru , Philippines , Poland , Portugal , Puerto Rico , Romania , Russia , Saudi Arabia , Senegal , Serbia and Montenegro , Singapore , Slovakia , Slovenia , South Africa , Spain , Sweden , Switzerland , Taiwan , Thailand , Trinidad And Tobago , Tunisia , Turkey , Ukraine , United Kingdom , United States , Uruguay , Venezuela , Vietnam and Yemen!


Picture of Pinky & Brain, Trying to take over the world.
" Don't tell Lucy, please, this might give her bad ideas! " - Mathijs





Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - day 243 - current treadmill total: 357,604.38 meters! (17:30 CET)



Lucy's webcam viewed with Palm® LifeDrive™


How cool is the next picture of a Palm® LifeDrive™ displaying Lucy's webcam:

Picture of a Palm LifeDrive PDA displaying Lucy's webcam.
The webpage shown
is custom made
for display
on the Palm® LifeDrive™.


The Palm® LifeDrive™ is WiFi® enabled, therefore the webcam can be accessed anywhere near a wireless-accesspoint, on which there is access.

I guess you could achieve the same results by using BlueTooth® technology in combination with your cellular phone. But that's quite expensive!

The rest of the site will require some work though: "Page Too Large To Display!" errors keep popping up while browsing this site with a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant).

But if you would like a preview, here is a link for your PDA: HamsterTracker™ PDA format (Using Google).




Monday, February 13, 2006 - day 242 - current treadmill total: 356,737.47 meters! (17:20 CET)



Lucy's treat


I've still been keeping busy (behind the scenes) it has taken me quite longer than expected...

Of course I take my daily timeouts with Lucy. In the next picture, Lucy kept her treat in her mouth for a while, something she doesn't do often:

Picture of my hamster Lucy, having a treat!
" MmMMMMmmmMmm ! " - Lucy




Friday, February 10, 2006 - day 239 - current treadmill total: 354,472.03 meters! (20:00 CET)



Lucy's deep meditation in her meditationroom


I've been busy (behind the scenes) clearing up some issues on my pc, it has taken me longer than expected...

I shot this next great shot, of Lucy deeply 'meditating', expecting her to do this in her bedroom, I am glad I got the chance to shoot this photograph:

Picture of my hamster Lucy, meditating in her meditation-room!
" ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzEN ! " - Lucy




Tuesday, February 6, 2006 - day 236 - current treadmill total: 352,115.03 meters! (18:10 CET)



When your pet looks at you like that...


Do you know, have ever experienced the feeling, that your pet can look in a special way at you, so your pet could get anything done?

Here's my dear littl' Lucy:

Picture of my hamster Lucy, being ultra cute!
" Yes! Your wish is my command! " - Mathijs




Monday, February 6, 2006 - day 235 - current treadmill total: 351,874.41 meters! (18:30 CET)



Website improvement and a nice picture of Lucy


I've split the news page again, to improve load-time, when viewing this website for the first time.
It now does it's job, but it still needs a bit more polishing...

I shot this picture of Lucy today:

Picture of my hamster Lucy.




Saturday, February 4, 2006 - day 233 - current treadmill total: 350,437.62 meters! (11:05 CET)



Profile of Lucy's face - Part II


When I published Lucy's profile photo of her face, I hoped that I could do better.

So I asked Lucy to pose for me again, with the following result:

My hamster Lucy's face profile, second try.
" I love the attention! " - Lucy




Thursday, February 2, 2006 - day 231 - current treadmill total: 350,313.66 meters! (18:05 CET)



Determining Lucy's weight - Part II


As I wrote about yesterday (see below) I am in the process of dertemining Lucy's weight.

My office was kind enough to lend me the office's letter scale, but the battery ran dead.

It took quite some exploring,
then I remembered,
my digital volt-meter uses a 9 volts battery
and after unscrewing and patching:

Picture of my volt-meter opened for the 9 volt battery, for the letter-scale. Picture of the weight of Lucy's Explorer ball.
I took the battery from my volt meter and then measured Lucy's explorer ball's weight.


Picture of the weight of Lucy and her Explorer ball.

Now some simple mathematics: 313 grams - 189 = 124 grams

Therefore Lucy's weight is 124 grams!

That's exactly what I measured when I put Lucy on the scale all by herself!
I couldn't take a picture of this because I needed both hands, to keep her on it...
Lucy's pouches seemed empty, not influencing her weight, because she just awoken from her beauty sleep.

My appologies to the office, for not being able to send a single letter, without this scale, today!
Therefore: HamsterTracker™ shouts to my office!



Wednesday, February 1, 2006 - day 230 - current treadmill total: 349,724.44 meters! (19:05 CET)



Determining Lucy's weight


I am in the process of dertemining Lucy's weight.
My office was kind enough to lend me the office's letter scale!
It has a nice resolution of 1 gram up to 2 kg! (2000 grams)!

Picture of the letter-scale I lend from the office to determine Lucy's weight.
Did you know that an average wallnut weighs 11 grams (+ or - 1 gram that is)?


The Duck Tape isn't there to keep Lucy on the scales, else they would have called it Hamster Tape.

But in a way it is...


Picture of the the setup to determine Lucy's weight.

The Hamster tape keeps Lucy's Explorer ball from moving,
giving me a chance of a nice photograph.
(And thereby dertermining her weight in the process!)

I guess Murphy's Law** is (once again) applicable here:

** " What can go wrong, will (eventually) go wrong! "


Picture of the the setup to determine Lucy's weight.
Right now, I'm looking all around for a 9 Volt battery!


To be continiued...



Tuesday, January 31, 2006 - day 229 - current treadmill total: 349,029.25 meters! (21:05 CET)



Lucy Promotion Difficulties - part II


Yesterday (see down below) I couldn't descide on what to use for HamsterTracker™ promotion cards.
As promised, I "discussed" this with Lucy, and even she can't can't decide:

Picture of my hamster Lucy trying to pick one of the different HamsterTracker(tm) promotion cards.
" I don't know! " - Lucy




Monday, January 30, 2006 - day 228 - current treadmill total: 348,805.91 meters! (18:05 CET)



Lucy Promotion Difficulties


I've been working on a new Lucy promotion card, and I can't decide:

Picture of different HamsterTracker(tm) promotion cards.

I am going to discuss this with Lucy

The cactus in the picture is there for symbolic reasons. (It is a pain to decide!)
If you have suggestions, don't hesitate to let me know!



Friday, January 27, 2006 - day 225 - current treadmill total: 346,980.81 meters! (17:45 CET)



Lucy's Statistical Graphs update


Here's an update of Lucy's latest statistical graphs.

My hamster Lucy lastest statistical graph.
HamsterTracker™ Server crashes:
Day: 12, 30, 44, 57, 67, 68, 76, 90, 91, 96, 99, 116, 182


My hamster Lucy treadmill time graph.


My hamster Lucy water consumption graph.

All new Total Distance Trend Graph:

My hamster Lucy Total Distance graph.





Thursday, January 26, 2006 - day 224 -
current treadmill total: 346,394.19 meters! (17:35 CET)



Profile of Lucy's face


Her face is outside of her cage, just in front of the vertical-cage-bar:

My hamster Lucy's face profile.
"How's this?" - Lucy





Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - day 223 - current treadmill total: 346,170.50 meters! (17:35 CET)



A very cute Lucy photograph


I've been doing quite a lot behind the scenes. Debugging the HamsterTracker™ software, checking the IR-gates, RSS etc. etc.

Not forgetting Lucy; she get's out of her cage 6 nights per week, exploring my living room in her Explorer ball.

Before she got out of her cage, I shot this cute picture of Lucy:

My hamster Lucy, being ultra cute.
"Can I get out of the cage now?" - Lucy





Monday, January 23, 2006 - day 221 - current treadmill total: 344,162.00 meters! (18:35 CET)



Valid RSS feed!


Today I fixed a small bug; Lucy's Water Consumption data didn't show up correctly in Feedreader, my favorite (free) RSS-news reader.

After experimenting quite a lot these last few days, and after some modifications, I got my RSS-Valid certificate today:

[Valid RSS]

Even though it still didn't show up in FeedReader!
After quite a lot of experiments, it hit me: Feedreader doesn't like the same titles in the RSS feed. I made each water consumption unique by adding "Day XXX, "!

Screenshot of Feedreader showing, Lucy's water consumption.

As you can see, all is fine now, not that Lucy minds:

My hamster Lucy, being her cute self.
Excuse me, what are you talking about? - Lucy




Saturday, January 21, 2006 - day 219 - current treadmill total: 343,617.69 meters! (19:15 CET)



Spread the hamster love!


I got an email from my Canadian friend Debbie, pointing out the following:

Source: news.bbc.co.uk

BBC NEWS

Thursday, 19 January 2006, 13:01 GMT

Snake 'befriends' snack hamster

Snake and hamster sharing enclosure in Japanese zoo
Aochan, the snake 'seems to enjoy' being with Gohan, the hamster.
A rodent-eating snake and a hamster have developed an unusual bond at a zoo in the Japanese capital, Tokyo.

Their relationship began in October last year, when zookeepers presented the hamster to the snake as a meal.

The rat snake, however, refused to eat the rodent. The two now share a cage, and the hamster sometimes falls asleep sitting on top of his natural foe.

"I have never seen anything like it," a zookeeper at the Mutsugoro Okoku zoo told the Associated Press News agency.

The hamster was initially offered to Aochan, the two-year-old rat snake, because it was refusing to eat frozen mice,.

As a joke, the zookeeper said they named the hamster Gohan - the Japanese word for meal.

"I don't think there's any danger. Aochan seems to enjoy Gohan's company very much," said zookeeper Kazuya Yamamoto.

The apparent friendship between the snake and hamster is one of many reported bonds spanning the divide between predator and prey.



Who can resist hamster-love?
I love this kind of news!

Thank you Debbie for sharing, therefore:

HamsterTracker™ shouts to Debbie!




Friday, January 20, 2006 - day 218 - current treadmill total: 343,379.78 meters! (17:00 CET)



RAQ: Recently Asked Question


I recently enjoyed meeting with my friend Gerrit (from Belgium) who I only see a couple of times a year.
Amoungst discussing a lot of things, he asked me the following question:

"I've noticed that Lucy is running a significant less of a distance in her treadmill, these last three months!"

Picture of the Gerrit; HamsterTracker(tm) supporter.

"Do you have an explanation for this?" - Gerrit

Here it goes... my attempt to explain this:

It is true, that Lucy is running less distance (and spends less of her time) in her treadmill.
It could well be that, I let Lucy run, around in the living room, in her Explorer Ball for 20-30 minutes (nearly) every evening.

I also think that when hamsters grow up, they have a less of an interest in a treadmill. (Hopefully this is only temporary!)

I was very worried when I noticed a decline in treadmill interest by Lucy. Because Lucy (1.0) died after only 6 months these where her first signs something was wrong.

The difference today is, that Lucy 2.0 has a healthy intake of water, and she also achieves an average speed of approx. 20 cm/s, which is a good indication of good health.
Lucy also drinks an average of 6 ml. of water each day. Once that drops to nearly zero, then there is a problem. Now there isn't!

I've also checked the HamsterTracker™ system for bugs, or inproper data-collection. As it seems, when I spin the treadmill manually, the HamsterTracker™ system works fine; so I don't think there is a technical problem that causes Lucy's decline in treadmill distance.

Maybe it's just simply Hamster puberty!

HamsterTracker™ shouts to Gerrit, for this interesting RAQ!





Thursday, January 19, 2006 - day 217 - current treadmill total: 342,659.34 meters! (18:30 CET)



Checking the IR gates and software


Because I expanded Lucy's cage a while ago, I want to get the Infrared gates working again.
For some reason, they stopped functioning like it should.

In the picture below, you can see the test setup: (See also: the IR Sensors page.)

Picture of the IR-gates I am trying to fix.

There where some strange results while testing this:
  • Gate 1 (the small one) functions like it should, after a few software modifications.
  • Gate 2 (the other one) doesn't function like it should after applying the same software mods.
  • Gate 2 seems to have an electrical fault, although the HamsterTracker™ system does sound a beep, whenever it's activated.
  • Gate 1 suddenly has a problem shining infrared light through the transparent Habitrail tubes. (couldn't test gate 2 'cause of the problem mentioned in the previous line).
  • I've checked with a webcam, and both gates seem to be emitting infrared light!

This subject requires a bit more attention than I anticipated. But I will get it working soon (although I don't know when)!

I totally forgot to mention that I've updated Lucy's expenses page.



Wednesday, January 18, 2006 - day 216 - current treadmill total: 342,300.12 meters! (18:20 CET)



How to determine your hamsters true colors using a picture editor


I always thought that my dear little Lucy had a bright white color all over.
Because I thought it was poor lighting that was to blame. It seems that I was wrong.
I have seen some slight color variance near her ears, but never paid too much attention to it, for the above mentioned reason.
In the picture below, you can hardly see it: (once you know it, you can see it!)


- In real life I can't spot it! -


Picture of my hamster Lucy trying to put as much of corn in her pouches as possible.


Then it struck me; I can use any picture editing program to enhance color variance.
I just ajusted brightness and contrast untill I could clearly see her blonde patches on top of her head, in front of her ears.


The original picture:
Picture of my hamster Lucy trying to put as much of corn in her pouches as possible.

Here enhanced:
Picture of my hamster Lucy trying to put as much of corn in her pouches as possible.
How cool!


Another HamsterTracker™ fact:

My Lucy is white and blonde!

Now if you look closely at the pictures I posted yesterday (down below on this page), you'll also spot it!
(How mysteriously our mind works!)



Tuesday, January 17, 2006 - day 215 - current treadmill total: 341,805.00 meters! (18:15 CET)



Lucy's Upcomming Experiment


When taking the following pictures of Lucy putting half a (mini) corn on the cob in her pouches, I was wondering how much that was.

Picture of my hamster Lucy trying to put as much of corn in her pouches as possible.
Picture of my hamster Lucy trying to put as much of corn in her pouches as possible.
Just a few more...

She does have a figure-eight-figure in the above picture !


Next time, I'll weigh the corn on the cob first. Then wait untill her pouches are so much stuffed, that she can't put more corn in.
(This is her normal behaviour, and much needed in this experiment).
After this I weigh the corn again.

Although it doesn't really say much on how much a hamster can carry in the pouches, it does give an indication on corn!

To be continued...



Friday, January 13, 2006 - day 211 - current treadmill total: 339,139.94 meters! (18:15 CET)



Lucy's Statistical Graphs update


Here's an update of Lucy's latest statistical graphs.

My hamster Lucy lastest statistical graph.
HamsterTracker™ Server crashes:
Day: 12, 30, 44, 57, 67, 68, 76, 90, 91, 96, 99, 116, 182


My hamster Lucy treadmill time graph.


My hamster Lucy water consumption graph.






Thursday, January 12, 2006 - day 210 - current treadmill total: 338,510.34 meters! (18:25 CET)


Lucy animation experiment


My hamster Lucy 2.0


This little ( and ultra high budget ) animation took quite some time to produce. I could have filmed Lucy with my camera, but that has been done...
  • So I took a lot of photographs of Lucy while she was having her snack.
    Quite fun to use the 'Fast picture feature' of the camera.
    Because of the time needed to recharge the flash, the animation is shown considerably faster than realtime.

  • After taking the pictures I reduced them all in size (height=108 pixels, width=144 pixels), to reduce download times (each frame, 14 in total, is about 5.5 kb!) totaling 75.1 kb!
    After a bit of testing, the framerate of two frames per second, seems optimum.
    I am showing these pictures at 150%, that's why they're a bit 'blocky' sometimes.

  • I could have made an animated gif, but I figured that each frame would be larger then 5.5 kb.
    Therefore it took quite some lines of JavaScript to achieve the animation!
    Needless to say, I'll think twice if I ever want to make another one.

When watching, just focus on Lucy (this way the background isn't too distracting); it looks like she is endlessly stuffing her pouches, finding the same over and over again.
At least I got some of the sequencing right!

Next time I will also use a tripod, therefore the backgroud is more stable, and the animation will be quite more relaxed to view.
Even though the result is not exactly as hoped and expected, I had great fun and learned a lot, while doing this!
I guess I'm not a Spielberg or Disney just yet, allthough I've got an excellent actrice!



Wednesday, January 11, 2006 - day 209 - current treadmill total: 337,785.16 meters! (17:30 CET)


'the LOOK' by Lucy


Lucy spend 2 x 20 minutes ( = 40 minutes total! ) in her explorer ball.
After I put her back in her cage, I took some photographs.

It all started out very nice...

Picture of my hamster Lucy caught running in her treadmill.

After taking this picture she immidiately noticed me...


Picture of my hamster Lucy noticing me taking pictures. Picture of my hamster Lucy trying to get my attention (part 1).
Picture of my hamster Lucy trying to get my attention (part 2). Picture of my hamster Lucy trying to get my attention (part 3).

Here is Lucy trying to be cute, in the hope I let her out of the cage again!


Because I didn't let her out AGAIN,

Lucy gave me 'the LOOK':


Picture of my hamster Lucy giving me 'the LOOK'!
" hmmmmmmmm ... I'm gonna remember this! " - Lucy




Tuesday, January 10, 2006 - day 208 - current treadmill total: 337,548.62 meters! (17:30 CET)


Update of Lucy's Jingle Dumbell experiment

See also: December 28,2005.


I've done some more experiments with Lucy and the Jingle Dumbell on the couch, because she completely ignored it in her cage:

Picture of my hamster Lucy noticing the Jingle Dumbell.
"Not that Jingle Dumbell again?" - Lucy

Picture of my hamster Lucy walking away from the Jingle Dumbell.
"I told you already that I don't really like it..." - Lucy

Picture of my hamster Lucy looking down at the edge of the couch.
"This is much more interesting" - Lucy


I guess the Jingle Dumbell isn't for Lucy! I will keep it, and test it again with another hamster in the future.

But for now Lucy calls it her Jingle DUMBell!

HamsterTracker™ shouts to Sandra for this interesting experiment!



Monday, January 9, 2006 - day 207 - current treadmill total: 337,063.34 meters! (18:30 CET)


Lucy's water consumption now in RSS-feed




By adding the following line of code I've added Lucy's waterconsumption to the RSS-feed.

    Call UpdateStatisticsRss(Replace(tmpString, vbCrLf, "<br />"), "Lucy's water consumption")


I love simple solutions!

Not that Lucy minds:

Picture of my hamster Lucy enjoying a snack.
"I've got a great snack" - Lucy


As it seems Lucy didn't run much in her treadmill, december 29, 2005 - january 1, 2006. Could this be because of fireworks exploding during these days?

Lucy is running more and more each night in her treadmill; last night she ran 790.09 meters (from 22:06 till 4:23)!



Friday, January 6, 2006 - day 204 - current treadmill total: 335,671.31 meters! (22:40 CET)

Lucy's BIG climb and descend



I've expanded Lucy's cage!
I've raised the 'Meditation room' about 80 cm closer to the sky!

Pretty fun to watch my Lucy exploring.
She went up and down like crazy! Knawing (or at least trying) and licking and rubbing her scent glands all over, thereby making it her own!


Here's a picture of Lucy in her new expansion, going back to familiar territory, after inspection: (Look close to spot Lucy!)

Picture of my hamster Lucy on inspection of her new cage expansion.
"Coool!" - Lucy


BTW: NO! She doesn't get sick running those U-joints!





Wednesday, January 4, 2006 - day 202 - current treadmill total: 335,173.69 meters! (17:50 CET)

Lucy's checkup



I was a little worried because of Lucy treadmill statistics.

She has been taking it very easy these last couple of day's, not running more than a few meters.
I've checked the HamsterTracker™ system, which runs fine.

Afraid of the same scenario that Lucy (1.0), I thought I'd give Lucy (2.0) a checkup.

Picture of my hamster Lucy on the couch looking at me
"I am telling you all is Ok!" - Lucy

I gave my little Lucy a carefull inspection. She seemed alright. She doesn't smell (that's always an indication something is the matter!)
When Lucy jawned, her teeth seemed also of correct lenght!

As it seems, Lucy ran 277.38 meters last night (before 0:00).
Her treadmill running has shifted from 1:00 - 5:00 am to 21:00 - 0:00 pm!
And because her waterconsumption is also Ok, I think she is Ok!

Although I'll monitor it closely these comming days!




Tuesday, January 3, 2006 - day 201 - current treadmill total: 334,895.25 meters! (18:50 CET)


Standard logo of RSS feed.

A small change!



I've changed the RSS 2.0 logo's to comply with the new standard.




"A new standard is being established to indentify syndicated content."

See: feedicons.com for more information.



Sunday, January 1, 2006 - day 199 - current treadmill total: 334,857.69 meters! (19:10 CET)

Happy 2006!


Lucy & myself,
hope you will realize
all or one of your dreams this year!

2006 Fireworks.
Fireworks for 2006




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ing. Mathijs A. van der Paauw