Hamster Across America

Recent Activity

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:23:00 +0000

Ever since her illness, Lizzie hasn't been running much in her wheel. She's still eating and drinking normally and looks healthy, but we're not sure if this is another bout of hibernation from last year or her just getting old. Probably some combination of the two. Tommy but together another graph to compare her recent running activity to the past couple years and it clearly shows she's hardly been using her wheel (other than occasionally nesting in it).

More Data

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:10:00 +0000

Lizzie is feeling much better and is back to her old self, but her running has declined by far. We're definitely glad she's back on her feet and healthy again! In our worry when she first fell ill, we crunched some numbers to see if it would help pinpoint when things began to turn for the worse.

As you can see in the graph, her average speed is quite telling of how serious her condition was. Even though her average distance per night has been steadily decreasing over her life, her speed stayed relatively constant throughout her life, dropping only a little over the winter. Only until she fell gravely ill a couple weeks ago did her speed drop dramatically. Hopefully now that she's better we'll be able to document her recovery!

Current status

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 07:39:00 +0000

After going through a full round of drugs and antibiotics, Lizzie seems to be breathing much easier. She still is a little too lethargic to be running in her wheel, but at least her appetite is back and she seems to be in stable condition.

Lizzie's Illness

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 04:02:00 +0000

For the past few days, Lizzie has been very sick and hasn't been able to run much. On Wednesday she was panting very heavily and would sit in very unusual positions squinting her eyes, so I took her to the vet Friday morning. Apparently there is something pushing on her lung and trachea making it very hard for her to breathe. They took a couple xrays but were not sure what was causing the problems. They sent me home with some drugs to help her breathe easier, which has made her noticeably calmer and she's started to eat and drink again, but alas, we still don't know what's wrong with our poor Lizzie! If anyone has seen their hamsters experience similar symptoms and have suggestions on how to improve her condition we'd most appreciate it! Below are her xrays.

Updated Distance per Day

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 05:11:00 +0000

Hey guys,

It's been a while since I've posted so I'd thought I'd put up a new graph on her daily progress. Recently she's been snoozing a lot and hasn't been running much, which may be because my room has been so hot in the past month. Hopefully she'll pick up again when the weather cools down a bit!

Technical Difficulties

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:46:00 +0000

Hey guys! We've been having some technical difficulties on our end for the past week, so the website hadn't been updating Lizzie's progress through New Mexico. However, it's all fixed now and luckily her distance traveled during that time was still recorded, so if in case you noticed that Lizzie traveled a massive distance over the past 24 hours, it's not because Tommy and I are slave driving her with whips. ;)

A new state at last!

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 04:50:00 +0000

Lizzie enjoyed the scenery in Arizona so much, she decided to dawdle a bit to soak it up as much as possible. But eventually, the call of duty summoned her back onto her epic trip across the US. So at last, Lizzie has crossed the border into the state of New Mexico! Not only that, but she has now officially run over 800 miles total since we launched this website. Let's just hope she doesn't get lost along the way like a certain other famous furry rodent...

Pitter Patter

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 23:36:00 +0000

After what sees like a brief winter slumber, it seems Lizzie has resumed her journey across the US! I had my suspicions when I started hearing the distinctive pitter patter of her wheel more, but I had Tommy check the data to double check, and sure enough, Lizzie is back to her old way running ways, though she's still not quite as active as she once was in her youth. We're not quite sure what caused the dramatic slowdown in December, but I am happy to report it's over. :)

Hamster Hike

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 04:28:00 +0000

Woa! A fan who found our Instructable has set up their own website to track their hamster, Horatio, as he journeys across the U.K.! We're super flattered! Go check them out at Hamster Hike!

Update

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 05:14:00 +0000

Fear not, my friends, Lizzie is still alive and well. Though she isn't running as far during her nightly jaunts in her middle age, Tommy has made it easier for her to get around the vast carpeted plains of my room by giving her rides on his iRobot Create. The two of them get along pretty well, though occasionally Liz will push his buttons.

"How do I launch the missiles?"

Looking Back

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:47:00 +0000

Hey guys! Wow, sorry for the long delay in between posts. I'll admit up front I've been pretty delinquent about them lately. Thanks though for all your emails! We really love receiving your comments and feedback, so write away! :)

Since it's the new year, I thought it'd be fun to show Lizzie's progress over the course of 2008. Tommy put together the following graph showing Lizzie's daily running activities.

There's definitely been a decline in the average distance she runs per night as she's gotten older. We're not sure on her exact age, but she's probably somewhere around the 1.5 year mark, or about middle-age for a Syrian hamster, given her life expectancy of about 2.5 years. For some reason in the past couple months her running has shown a particularly large drop-off in her daily mileage. Tommy and I are still scratching our heads as to why.

Brawndo - The Thirst Mutilator

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 05:01:00 +0000

Tommy and I are extremely pleased to announce that Lizzie has gotten her first corporate sponsorship ever. Actually, come to think of it, has any hamster ever had a corporate sponsor before? Maybe Hampton of Hampster Dance fame would be the closest contestant, but pumped up on Brawndo - The Thirst Mutilator I'm sure Lizzie is more than a match for old Hampton, especially with all those electrolytes pumping through her veins. One sip of this stuff and she'll be charging off across America at light speed.

Of course, the improved running is just the beginning. Initial clinical tests revealed Brawndo can give incredible new abilities we never thought possible. Here are just a few of the results of our tests:

6x increase in upper body strength

Development of pop-star-quality pipes and a seductive voice to match

With such a dramatic increase in strength, intelligence and dexterity from drinking Brawndo on a twice-daily basis, our lab hamsters began taking on all kinds of new activities:

(Note: Brawndo is intended solely to be consumed by humans and plants. Like other processed human food and drink, we do not recommend or endorse actually feeding Brawndo to your pet hamsters)

Goodbye to the Grand Canyon!

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 02:49:00 +0000

After more than a month of trekking through the vast virtual desert wilderness, Lizzie finally made it out of the Grand Canyon! It was tough work fording the rivers and climbing over all those canyons and plateaus, but nothing is harder to stop than a hamster on a life-long mission. In between roughing it in the wild and fighting off hawks and coyotes with her bare paws, Lizzie was able to stop and help this poor, drunken tourist from falling to his doom. Frankly, I think he's enjoying himself way too much given the only things between him and a rocky end are 482 feet of air and a 3 ounce hamster.

"Stop laughing and waving or you'll become yet another example of Darwinism!"

Lizzie featured by Small Animal Channel

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 20:13:00 +0000

A couple weeks ago, Tommy and I gave an interview for Small Animal Channel about Lizzie. The article was just posted up today! Check out how we came up with the idea for Hamster Across America and our other plans for Lizzie here:

A Hamster Takes the Wheel

Lizzie wins 2nd at Petco Hamster Ball Derby

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 05:19:00 +0000

Hey everyone! This past Saturday was the annual hamster ball derby at Petco. Of course, we just had to go and have Lizzie compete for pride and glory. A small contingent of friends came out to cheer her on. No doubt roused by the strong show of support, Lizzie won the initial heat to qualify for the finals, but came in 2nd against a much younger fellow Syrian. Congrats Lizzie on your performance!

More Experiments

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:26:00 +0000

Rodents' love of chewing can wreak serious havoc on everything in their cages, as we discovered during our first few attempts at wiring up Lizzie's cage. Lately I've been experimenting with a laser cutter to create unique toys for her to chew on and keep things interesting (seriously, you'd be bored too if your universe mostly consisted of a glass tank).

A particularly successful prototype has been to cut out little pieces of cardboard that can be interlinked to form all kinds of different structures. Think K'Nex for hamsters. Also pictured is a more ambitious project to create fun, safe home for Lizzie. All of the pieces are connected using slits and pressure nubs so no glue or any other materials that could potentially have been hazardous were used in anything. Just pure, good old cardboard. ;)

"Mine! Keep off!"

"Yesssssss, from this castle I shall rise to dominate. They will all fall before me. One day, it shall all be mine...but first, nap time."

How Fast Does a Hamster Run?

noreply@blogger.com (Tommy) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:45:00 +0000

As more and more people get interested in tracking Lizzie's progress we've more and more great quesitons. One such question came as a comment on our Instructable from mrbob1001 and asked "Have you ever calculated [Lizzie's] top speed?"

To answer the question I constructed a graph of Lizzie's speed distribution, how much of the time she runs at different speeds.

From this graph we can tell a couple interesting things. First it appears that her sustainable top speed is about 2.5 mph. In addition while she can go that fast she prefers to run at around 1.85 mph. Interestingly enough her time running at each speed looks like it might be a standard distribution around that center point slightly skewed because of the ramp-up necessary while she accelerates from a stop. A slightly more detailed graph is available here.

On a related note, we love questions! Please feel free to keep asking them in the comments or by email. We'll do our best to answer them and feature the best ones in the FAQ and on this blog.

How to Track Your Own Hamster

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 05:37:00 +0000

Hey everyone! By popular demand, Tommy has written up an Instructable on how he tracks Lizzie's running and progress across America! Everything you need to know, from the list of materials and equipment to assembly instructions and some basic code to get you started is there. Check it out! Now you too can monitor the activities of your furry little friends. :-D

Instructables: Track How Far Your Hamster Runs.

The Main Page Is Up!

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 08:43:00 +0000

Holy crap! I think I need my eyes checked. How convenient my optometrist appointment is tomorrow afternoon. Until then, I may have to call everything I see into question, like the main page actually working and the furry spherical cow having tea with a pink platypus and an anthropomorphic eggplant in the corner of my bedroom.

Even if it is indeed an illusion, I have to say it looks quite fabulous! Major props to Tommy for finally pulling off our lovely Google Maps mashup so we can see exactly where Lizzie is in the U.S.

To get everyone up to speed, Lizzie is not following any particular road or highway. We had originally been considering having her run along I-80, but decided it would be more fun instead for her to cut across and visit famous parks, cities and landmarks. After all, she's a hamster, so she should be able to handle some off-roading to avoid the pesky nuisance of traffic jams, pot holes and angry drivers. Lakes and rivers pose a problem because getting hamsters wet can make them susceptible to wet tail and pneumonia, but let's assume for the purposes of her virtual tour that her wheel is buoyant and water-tight with its own recycling air supply (Oh a hamster submarine! That could be a fun project to work on....). ;)

Looks like at the moment she's finished swimming/sailing across Lake Meade after visiting Las Vegas and is running as I type towards the Grand Canyon. Keep up the good work, Lizzie, and again a huge thanks to Tommy for making this site possible.

Congrats Tommy!

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 04:20:00 +0000

Hey everyone! Just wanted to give a quick shout out to Tommy, who just finished his masters! Congrats! Now you have no excuse to not get the main page working... ;)

In the meantime, Lizzie has become very innovative in her running: she's been running along the TOP of the wheel instead of in it! Kudos for the innovative thinking!

"Let me out of here!!!"

500 miles at last!

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 21:13:00 +0000

A big congrats to Lizzie for making 500 miles!!! Some treats of fresh blueberries were certainly in order. We're 1/6 of the way there! :-D

Soooooooo close!

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 06:00:00 +0000

As I write Lizzie is just at the cusp of breaking 500 miles (497.24 miles to be exact). Time has really flown since Tommy and I started this project together. It's been a fun few months getting everything working (Tommy gets most of the credit for this!) and designing everything on the site. Not to mention we've made several frantic trips to Home Depot whenever we discovered that Lizzie had once again managed to gnaw through the not-as-indestructible-as-we-thought wires and their protective wrappings attached to her running wheel.

Anyways, a night or two more and she'd have run over 500 miles! With Lizzie still less than a year old, I still have hopes she'll make it to the East Coast. A friend gave Lizzie some new chewy treats to celebrate her breaking the 400 mile mark. What should we get for the 500?

Yes, She is REAL

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 23:38:00 +0000

Just to settle any doubts about the existence of our spunky fur ball, here's Lizzie posing in front of her virtual cross-country transporter:

We're finally online!

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 07:42:00 +0000

Wooo! After months of being in beta, we've finally finished the site design and navigation! Tommy has been totally awesome working on putting together the Google Maps mash-up to track our little hamster in her exercise wheel. That'll be up soon, we promise! If it's not, I'll be sure to walk down the hallway and remind Tommy to hurry up. ;)

In the meantime, check out our merchandise page here: http://www.zazzle.com/hamsteracrossamerica ! We set up a small gallery on Zazzle, with all the royalties going to the Humane Society. Currently we've got our logo for sale, but it's totally customizable and you can put it on any shirt/color that Zazzle has available. I've been working on some new designs too so check back soon for updates!