This Is Food Stuffer's Journal

A little video I made of Lucy out on my bed. (Feel free to chastise me for my dirty room)

I don't know if any of you watch the tv show The Office, but yesterday's episode had a funny lil bit:

Jim: I thought we agreed that we wouldn’t do stuff like this.
Michael: Tube City. You owe me one.

Jim: Co-managing is a give-and-take. You have to pick your battles. One of the battles that I picked was to stop Michael from running plastic tubes all over the office and placing hamsters inside of them. He was going to call it Tube City. So, yes, I do owe him one...



lolz!

hey guys!

it's me again, the thing with the fishtank as a home for my dwarf didn't turn out well. of course, they're far to heavy for me to clean. so today I was in a pet shop and looked at stuff they had.

they had for example one of these:
( this one )
as you can see it's made of plastic, it's 70 cms long, has an air opening on the ceiling (I think you can see it)

I've read pros and cons about them but I really don't know.

have you got any experience with these kind of cages? if they really are awful, then which kind of cages would you recommend for a roborovsky dwarf hamster?


I'm really confused right now!!!
so plz help me guys!!

thanks a lot!!

Notes augmented

We've enhanced and de-bugged Notes. If you haven't tried it yet, now's the time! You can create a private note when you ban multiple users. You can also delete multiple notes at once. Lastly, paid users have the option to add a note (visible only to you) whenever you add or remove a friend (guaranteed to avoid embarrassing social mishaps). If you don't currently have a paid account, you can upgrade now! It only takes a few minutes and costs less than a bad shopping mall haircut (plus, it's way more fashionable)!

Product tweaks and bug kill

1. In another effort to zap spam, comments containing links from domains LiveJournal deems untrustworthy are now automatically screened
2. If you sign up to get notifications of the Writer's Block question of the day, you'll now see the daily question in the email notification, so you'll have a little extra time to ponder before you post. You can subscribe to Writers Block notifications here
3. The issue causing random comments to vanish has been fixed!
4. If you visit a LiveJournal page and get prompted to log in, you'll be returned to the same page after you sign in (Thanks, Dreamwidth)!
5. If you don't edit the timestamp for an entry at all, the entry timestamp will indicate the time the entry was posted instead of the time the Update Journal page was loaded
6. Comments with paddings/backgrounds render correctly within the comment box (and will no longer wrap outside the box and break frames/margins)

New FCK fixes rich text editor!

1. We've updated our RTE (Rich Text Editor) to FCKeditor version 2.6.5
2. When switching from the RTE to HTML editor, links for syndicated feeds are no longer broken
3. RTE now functions properly in Safari 4.0
4. An extra line/space will not be auto-inserted whenever you switch from RTE to HTML editor
5. The insert image link now works correctly in all browsers

LiveJournal Cares

We’re pleased to introduce you to lj_cares, a new LiveJournal community dedicated to raising awareness and funds for U.S. charitable organizations that improve the health and well-being of people around the world. Each month, we’ll spotlight a nonprofit that is making a significant global impact through medical research, public outreach, and/or humanitarian social programs. Charities will be selected in accordance with the U.S. calendar of national health observances based on a high rating (of over 60%) on Charity Navigator and global scope of impact.

In this, our inaugural month of November, we will celebrate national adoption month by offering a charitable virtual gift (priced at $2.99) to support Love Without Boundaries, an organization that saves the lives of orphans with life-threatening diseases and places them in loving homes around the world. LiveJournal will donate 100% of the proceeds from the sale of charitable vgifts (we'll cover the cost of credit card transaction fees). To learn more about Love Without Boundaries, please visit lj_cares and read about how they helped save Baby Kang and the Rainbow Twins from fatal illnesses, who are now thriving in nurturing families. You can purchase your Love Without Boundaries gifts in the Virtual Gift shop.

Papered in postcards

A couple of weeks ago, we asked you to send in postcards to surround us with LiveJournal community. Thanks for coming through! We've received postcards all the way from Germany, Finland, and Canada and from all over the US, including Texas, Florida, Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, Indiana, Hawaii, and Oklahoma just to name just a handful. We're thrilled with our improved decor.

Please keep the love coming for one more week by writing to Frank the Goat, Esq., c/o LiveJournal, Inc., 539 Bryant Street, Suite 210, San Francisco, CA 94107. Be sure to include your username, since we'll be drawing the names of ten random contributors next Thursday to win paid account credits!

Photos of the week

We have more dazzling images posted by talented LiveJournal photographers from around the world. We're hoping to span the entire globe, so please continue posting and tagging. Of course, you can also sit back and enjoy the view at lj_photophile.

You can see a sample of this week's gorgeous photos and check out spotlight communities and awesome user content after the jump!

( Read more... )

Curtains

We thank you, once again, for joining us. See you next week!

When I got home from work last night I checked on all my babies (as usual). I walked over to Namco's bin and my heart just stopped. I don't have the proper screening on the holes I cut on the top of the bin, so I was using a tennis racket, since she wouldn't be able to fit through it. She had climbed on top of her wheel and chewed threw a few strings of the racket. Her head was sticking through and she was staring straight up at me. I couldn't tell if she was moving. Her wheel had fallen over so she was just hanging from the racket. I thought she was choking! As soon as I reached for her she dropped down, so she must have been holding on, but I was so afraid she was stuck. I started crying even. I don't know what I would do if she choked and I wasn't able to help her. I don't think she understood all the extra cuddles I gave her after that. Kids always make their parents worry. I need to get the proper screening now. I guess I'm gonna have to go to a hardware store, I couldn't find any at Walmart or Target.

Here's another picture of her from my phone (still looking for a camera):

Hey all,

I'm flying from Florida to New York to visit my parents from Nov. 14 - Dec. 7. As you know, my little trooper Columbo is having his on-and-off days. I have this awful luck of hamsters passing away while I'm away from home - my last hamster, Nathan, died a mere 4 days after I left for Scotland - so I'm worried. I also think that my fiance, who's going to be staying in Florida, won't tell me if Columbo goes because he won't want me to be upset while I'm home and just enjoy the holiday. I sort of wish I didn't have to go to New York but what am I gonna say, "No mom, I can't go see you for Thanksgiving because my hamster is sick?" :-/ And she's also ill so it would be pretty callous of me to stay here, while it might be my mom's last Thanksgiving.

Anyhow, I'm hoping that you all can keep Columbo in your thoughts and hope that he pulls through until I get back. I told my fiance what to look for, and that if he sees any blood to take him immediately to the vet, so that Columbo isn't in pain. Maybe I'm worrying for nothing but I'm so nervous for my little one.

here is a video of dale one of my robos.
sorry for the bad quality, i was using my cell phone that also explains why its only 30 seconds lol.

( more! )

EDIT@08:16 UTC/GMT. Wow. That was ugly. I expected it to go for 30 minutes and have maybe 1 minute of broken connectivity. Instead it lasted over 4 hours and we had 10 minutes of downtime directly related to the load balancer upgrades and then another 5-10 minutes of downtime when our primary Pingback database server crashed and the secondary couldn't take over; which could have been indirectly caused by the network upgrade missing a self-VIP.

Anyways, we're up, we're working, the load balancers are barely breaking a sweat right now and I need some food and a shot of whiskey. I don't even *like* whiskey!!

Thanks mhwest and dnewhall for helping out!

---

On Saturday the 14th at 4AM UTC/GMT we will be upgrading the operating system of our network load balancers to a newer version, one that will allow us to use both CPUs! Nifty, because multiprocessing is nice.

Since we have 2 load balancers, the plan is to upgrade 1 at a time, and there really should be very little impact to our website. Hopefully you won't notice a thing and I'll get to go back to the hotel and watch some wonderful late night infomercials.

We've got a lot of exciting projects coming up for 2010 and we're hoping that we'll be able to deliver them all to you, that you will find it useful/cool/lovely and then you will use the site even more. Behind-the-scenes work like this will give us the capacity to handle the anticipated traffic, so expect a few more maintenance windows especially in the beginning of next year as we've got some neat ideas to improve performance around here! We had the recent 30-45 minute outage yesterday due to one of our logging databases filling up disk space -- not so great design coupled with my human error in handling the initial problem -- and it looks like we're going to finally have some resources to eliminate stuff like that. I can't wait!

As usual, I will be updating status.livejournal.org before and after, just in case you are not able to reach our main website during the work.

hey guys!

I want to make my little Roborovski a new home in one of our MANY fishtank (and I'm not kidding, our attic is full with probably every size of fishtanks you can imagine. my brother, dad and me just dig fishies *g*)

I've heared and read that it's the best for dwarfs to live in a fishtank so you can put a lot of hey in there or something for them to dig and all and I feel like it's better for him couse it'd mute sounds and all.

what I'm concerned about it is this:

I've read that roborovski don't like heat (I have never read any celsius/fahrenheit number at which it would be curcial for them, does anyone know???) and I'm worried that it might get hot in a fishtank for the little fellow and couse of air and all!


does anyone know if a fishtank is really save for a hamster couse of heat, air circulation and all??

thanks for your help guys!!
(ps: he already likes to eat apples from my hands awwwwwwww, let's me forget university stress for a little time *g*)

Well my 2 boys Robo and Samson were getting along at first, but it appears there has been serious fighting for a little while. Samson is a total submissive, so he's injured and raggedy. They've obviously been fighting while we've been sleeping in the night, as Samson's entire rear end is one enormous scab and he has small bites on his back feet. Poor bubs. :( I immediately removed him when I heard the fight break out and kept him in a bowl until hubbs got home. He now resides in a huge footlocker until Thursday when we will go out and get him his own digs. Rigging the water bottle was a pain.

Samson will make a full recovery. I also noticed he's so submissive he won't even nip me. Not even a taste test. This is rather exciting for me and I'm contemplating the possibility of him becoming my "hand hamster", since I am certain Robo is far too much of a grump to ever be handled.

For now though, I gave him fresh food and water and got him his own igloo so he can get some rest. ♥



( Poor Baby! )

What's a good camera for taking hamster pictures (or just animals, in general)? I've been looking at this Canon Powershot at Best Buy, which takes great people pictures, but I don't know how it would do with animals. Any suggestions?

sixwordstories
Whether you're in the mood for a creative challenge or you're short on time or attention span, this semi-addictive community is perfect for those who find flash fiction way long. Once you get the hang of it, you won't be able to stop. The prince turned into a frog. The girl ran home to mother. Tough to write. Easy to read. It's a double threesome of fun.

dailyfoodie
Delicious, ambitious, and occasionally nutritious dishes make for an eclectic, all-you-can-eat feast. Whether you're searching for recipes for your next dinner party or you're jonesing for a late-night brownie fix, your cravings are sure to be well sated. A warm and inclusive community that welcomes all orientations, from carnivores to vegans, from gourmands to junk-food junkies. Guaranteed bias-free, food-positive, and pan-epicurian.

So typicalfemale made a suggestion here and I wanted to do it but I needed a while to process losing Harriet. Anyway I’m ready now to talk about all ( my hambabies past and present! )

I've been working on hand taming my Namco. She has a lot of energy, so she moves around a lot when I take her out, but she doesn't seem to be afraid. I thought I was making good progress until I let my friend hold her for a while and she fell asleep in her hand. She took a nice long 30 minute nap with my friend. I was so jealous! Today I picked her up and cradled her in the fold of my shirt. She fell asleep! I'm so glad Nammy trusts me! At least, I think that's what it means.

I need to put some picture up of her. She's so beautiful!

hey guys!

I want to ask you guys a question:

WHEN DO YOUR HAMSTERS GET UP AND WHEN TO BED? (especially dwarf hamsters)

couse I tend to pick hamsters, that like to get up past 11pm and go to bed before 6am. which is annoying since then I hardly have any time work with them.


and another question:

is it true that dwarf hamster are not necessarily aktiv at night? couse I've read that they also tend to get up at day and all.
has anyone got any experience with them?

as well as how long should you leave your Roborovski alone at first so he can get used to everything?
I've heared now everything from1  day till "a very long time" and it kinda annoyes me couse he's so fucking shy I'm not even allowed to talk to him or something.


thanks for your help!!

I worry that Snake is getting bored. It seems like he runs on his wheel less and has been climbing his cage more. He doesn't give a crap about tubes (I've tried plastic and cardboard). The only way I've gotten him to climb into one was when I put a treat in, and he just took the treat and then ignored the tube again.

Does anyone have any ideas? Maybe something I can make/use to put treats in that he has to work get them out? I can't play with him because he's not really hand tame (he's a dwarf).

Thanks in advance!

Here are pictures to go with my previous post. I put a little more food in her dish and watched her pouch it and move it to the corner. Then I took a short video which really isn't all that entertaining because she kept trying to climb out of her cage lol
( Adventures with Pickles )

And the video!

http://s40.photobucket.com/albums/e234/fuzzynaevl/Pickles/?action=view¤t=DSCF5915.flv

The empire strikes back

In recent weeks, we've taken huge steps towards blocking spam accounts on LiveJournal. In fact, we've suspended as many as 30,000 accounts in a single day! We've implemented several pre-emptive measures to prevent the creation of spam accounts, and we've honed our detection of suspicious content. Spam bots are a crafty lot, so we'll continue to refine our tactics and keep up the good fight to keep you safe from spam attacks on LiveJournal.

RSS feeds again

If you're addicted to xkcd_rss, icanhaschzbrgr, or other syndicated feeds, we're pleased to report that we've resolved the update error that was mucking up your RSS feeds. While content was being pulled correctly, it wasn't being posted to the feeds themselves. Late last week, we finally nailed down what we hope was the root problem, so content should post properly. We thank you for your patience.

Wii have killer CSI Deadly Intent contests!

c_s_i

If you're a gamer who loves CSI, have Wii got news for you! c_s_i is sponsoring killer contests. Simply post a question to a member of the CSI crew. The winner will get a free copy of CSI: Deadly Intent for Nintendo Wii (with a retail value of $39.99) and get their question answered by a member of the CSI writing team! There's also a fantastic monthly contest. To enter, join c_s_i, play the online version of CSI: Deadly Intent, and respond to a two-part query for a chance to win a Wii! Entries will be judged on composition and originality. Sorry, but you must be a U.S. resident and over 18 years old to participate. Check out the rules here.

Enveloped in postcards

Last week, we asked you to send in postcards to help us decorate our drab concrete walls. Here's a photo of the results so far! Thank you so much and please keep them coming! You can mail them to Frank the Goat, Esq., c/o LiveJournal, Inc., 539 Bryant Street, Suite 210, San Francisco, CA 94107. Be sure to include your username, since we'll be giving ten random users paid account credits.

Photos of the week

If you haven't visited our new LiveJournal photo community, you're in for an amazing visual trip. LiveJournal users from around the world will take you on a scenic journey to everywhere. Post your own pictures or kick back and enjoy at lj_photophile. You can view some of this week's awesome photos after the jump. Please start tagging with geographic location, since we'd like to track all the places around the world represented in this community. Keep on commenting too!
( Read more... )