solve

steady progress

Adventures in CubingLeave a comment

Having never solved a cube before, I was STOKED to get an on-camera, cheat-sheet-free solve last week [link].  While I remain convinced that, on a percentage basis, only a small sliver of the population can even solve a cube — and an even smaller population learned well after their brain atrophied and petrified post-adolescence — the competitive part of me can’t help but want to improve my solve time.  There are more advanced and more efficient techniques out there, and I hope to tackle them at some point.  And certainly my mechanics can use some work.

The number one tip on every speed-solving site and tutorial is…PRACTICE!  And so I have practiced.  A lot.  Lo and behold, I’ve made remarkable progress.  Indeed, today’s 1:46 (my personal best) means that I’ve shaved 71% off that 6-minute first timed solve!

Here are videos capturing my progress:

2:30 (Dec 1)

1:58 (Dec 3)

1:46 (Dec 4)

While I take credit for most of the progress, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that migrating from a Rubik’s-branded cube to a more advanced speed cube made a difference.  These solves are on a white Dayan Zhanchi, which moves effortlessly, corners well, and does not lock-up.  No wonder it was Feliks’ cube of choice for that fateful, world record setting 5.66 second solve.

REVISIONIST HISTORY: Although I posted this after my inaugural post, I’ve pre-dated it to keep things chronological.

first on-camera solve

Adventures in Cubing4 Comments

So, I’ve been at this cubing thing for about a couple days now, having started Thanksgiving morning. What compelled me to give it a go is a bit of a mystery. But, if I had to, I suppose I’d blame the confluence of (1) the sudden surfacing of a cube from the back of a drawer, (2) an extra couple days off work, and (3) a fair bit of escapism (from the craziness that becomes Thanksgiving get-togethers). I’ve always enjoyed intellectual challenges, and this struck me as the challenge par excellence. No longer the owner of one of those spongy pre-adolescent brains that absorbs languages in the blink of an eye, I figured my hardened post-college, post-law school, post-kids brain could benefit from some unusual exercise.

I assumed there would be dozens of good tutorials on the internet. Dozens the net does indeed boast, but most aren’t that great. Frustrated, I finally stumbled onto a fantastic set of youtube videos by RobH0629. It took a couple hours of viewing and practicing to get down the basics and to scribble the algorithms into a cheat sheet that “made them my own.” Then, after a detour to help cook the bird, I managed this first on-camera solve — in a mere six-minutes! (Don’t worry: I sped up the video).

(tune: String Cheese Incident covering Weather Report’s “Birdland” on 9.5.03, with John Medeski guesting on keys; cube: OEM Rubik’s-brand 3×3)

As I write this post a couple months later, I scoff at six minutes. But, gee, did I feel proud of myself that day!

REVISIONIST HISTORY: Although I posted this after my inaugural post, I’ve pre-dated it to keep things chronological.