Slowly, I’ve been chipping away at new algorithms and permutations. Last week I learned a faster edge cycle technique (both directions), and I’ll post about that soon. This weekend, I learned more OLLs — the three with the corners correct but edges flipped. I’m not great at memorizing, but these are starting to come fairly easily. More muscle memory than memorization, I suppose. Here’s a quick video with the three:
And here are the algorithms I use: Continue reading
Over the past few weeks, I’ve posted a series of personal bests — culminating in last week’s 34 second solve. But none of those PBs were evidenced by anything other than a screen capture. So, it was nice just now to record (on my hastily set up iPad) this 39-second solve before diving into my work day.
This was on my re-stickered Dayan Zhanchi, with my custom (homemade) G‑sticker. This nicely showcases my slow but steady evolution — with no remnants of the Beginner’s Method. Advanced cross, F2L, Antisune (OLL 26), and the just-learned Ub Perm for the PLL edge cycle.
Another personal best: 34.0 seconds! Brad Mehldau’s angular take on “My Favorite Things” played in the background. Proof that jazz is good for the soul.
In my excitement at shaving a full 4.8 seconds off my last best time, I neglected to get a screen grab with that big ‘ol 34.0 in the middle. (Of course, nothing proves that I’ve actually solving anything in the times of which I boast — with requisite humility, mind you. Meaningless in terms of evidence, but still meaningful to me.)
So, I thought I’d post this chart of my last 11 days of sessions (since switching to gqTimer) instead. Nevermind the slight improvement of my averages. I’m struck by the consistency — right around session averages of 50-seconds. Freak personal bests pop up, but 50 seconds is inarguably where I am at this point.
Another personal best: 38 seconds. Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” played in the background.
The rabbit hole deepens…. As I’ve become a fan of re-stickering my cubes with higher-quality, high-brightness stickers from Cubesmith, I haven’t wanted to add the Cubesmith logo to my cubes. Maybe it’s just me, but I’m generally not a fan of branding/logos. Leave the horsey off my “polo” shirts, please…. Same with my cubes, I suppose. That means that the white faces of my re-stickered cubes are ALL white, without that contrasting, easy to pick out center cubie — which means more hunting during inspection.
Wouldn’t it be cool, I thought, if I could create my own custom center logos? Turns out, Cubesmith once offered a custom logo printing service, but no longer does. There are some Youtube tutorials on how to create your own using tape, laser printer toner, etc. I tried those methods; they don’t work. Printing on clear mailing labels does sort of work, but the toner wears off quickly and it’s hard to shape the labels perfectly.
So, I’ve decided to order commercial custom stickers. I have some leads on sticker houses that can do stickers this small for relatively inexpensive rates (between $25-$50 for a good amount of the stickers). While I continue to search for exactly the right vendor, I mocked up a handful of logos. The “G” comes from my last name.
I have a couple favorites in the group, depending on if I do single color or full-color. In the meanwhile, here are a couple of them printed out on clear mailing labels:
adventures in cubing 