Monday, July 31, 2017


L' F2 L D' B U' R F' L' F2 R U' R2 B' L2 U' L' U' L U' F' R' D' B' R' U2
Lennypassedshortcake2Vic
Oscardidn't alwayscycle 13 grapes
Chooseany1please
cycleFourHundred3
U F' R' F2 L' D R D B2 U' L2 F' D L' F' U' L D' L F L' U2 B D F
FlipEatsGreenveggiesknownas
IOpeas
Stevefrieseggs-x
Henryeats-x2doughnutsLennystole
PRO clock

No. I did not attempt to solve two cubes with my eyes closed. Maybe someday, but not soon. Annie wanted to do a scramble and story with me after nap time but I didn't want to wait so had two going at once, but then she went shopping and I ended up doing both stories anyway. I don't think I solved the second one start to finish. I forgot corner 2, so when I opened my eyes I was one swap short of a complete solve.

The top one was one I tried earlier with a more complicated story and never got. This morning I nailed it. Sometimes commutators make it quicker and easier, like today. Sometimes I get really confused. I guess I should just use them when they are straightforward without any complicated setup moves.

Sunday, July 30, 2017

Getting Faster? No. Now I Can't Even Get A Solve!

This one is giving me fits. I thought I needed to slow down and be careful and that it would be more satisfying to get a solve than to rush it and fail again. But even going slow I messed up. I'm pretty sure I messed up on the Swapper. I forgot to R2 in the first part. But instead of stopping immediately I went too far to back it up and get back on track. That makes me wonder. If S is the Swapper algorithm, what is Si? I checked it out. I kept messing up and got tired of trying it.

By the way, the scramble that is giving me fits?

D' U2 F2 L B2 D2 U2 R D' R U B D L2 R2 U2 B' D2 U' R2 B2 R2 U R2 U2 L D' L' R F'
Everyonegetsrealvaluables
AllfollowersofJesus
Inpraisekneelunto
UntoChrist theLord
Victorskneelhumbly
despicablevillains

I wonder if it is the story? Maybe if the story wasn't so deep it would be easier to focus on the solve.

Obviously I'm in that stage of learning this method where I am trying to get comfortable with it but ain't there yet. One day I think I've got it and am improving, then the next day it is like I am not even close.

Picking Up Speed

Annie helped me make the story for this solve. It didn't take long at all to memorize. Like a minute or so. Then the solve took 10.5 minutes. I used the Rubik's Cube this time. It is not as smooth as the Dreampark cube I got with carbon stickers.

D B' L2 U' B' D' L D' F' U L B U' F' L F U R U L' B' D' R' D' R'
Vic's1ducksquirtsonfrogs
42pigsinaninstant
Stevejumpshomefrom
underVic'sgianteggs

Saturday, July 29, 2017

Perhaps I Should Reconsider

Yesterday I came up with a commutator heavy solution for a new scramble. I tried to pull it off tonight without having a clear plan for how to do the edge commutators. Bad idea. I either need to plan the commutators out better, or stick with the Swapper technique.

One thing I did today was to think about the setup moves I use for corners.

56
45
43443443
44457xx5
5
4x
The numbers signify how many moves it is to get to 2. The colors show sides and which spot is being used to set it up. F, I, O, or V.

Here is what I tried to do.

B U' B L' D' B L D' R U L U' F2 U R' U B2 U R' F'
Flip F and H
AllJesusknowsyoudon't
cycle G F 3Carl cyclesgoodfor3 but
cycle O R VOscarreallyvacuums
Follow1only
Li D L Ui ...A to B to 3
2 w s
I think I will convert it to using less commutators and try again.

July 30, 2017
This morning I translated it to no commutators and plan to try this.

AllJesusknowsyoudon't
Carlgotforgiven
OscarrealizedVicbelieves
Follow1only.everybodyunderstand?
2weresaved

Maybe when I get really good at this I will decide I don't want to move on to using commutators. Maybe I will feel like trying them when I am back to my quiet peaceful lifestyle. We'll see. Maybe I should get really good at BLD solving with no commutators, then make a walk-through / tutorial video, then think about incorporating commutators.

Later on July 30, 2017
I got it using my carbon fiber cube and Raymond says I did it in around 7 minutes. That is about half the time I usually take. At least the few times I timed it.

Thursday, July 27, 2017

Good Commutator Practice

This one took me a long time to get without messing up. It was good practice using commutators for both edges and corners. And by the time I had worked through the solve several times I was speeding up the Swapper with no ill effects. I incorporated the 3-cycles into the story. On the edges the Swapper (one-by-one) was used up through Carl, then I cycled 3 to A to H. Similarly with the corners after using the Swapper up through children I cycled 3 to 1 to B. At this point in a way I think it would be easier to just stick with the Swapper throughout, but if I stick with it I think it will pay off to get good at using commutators when possible. On the last few solves if I have to twist two corners at the end I put the one that goes anti first in the story.


L2 B2 L2 B F' L2 F' U2 R2 B2 U2 F2 D' U F R B2 D' B2 L'
Flip BeV
Davidgavepraise
LordsaveKevin
Carl cycles 3 Ape Heads
24awesomechildrencycle 31 Bikes
Twist 3 and I

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Back to Zero. Back to One. Back to Zero.

I messed up on my attempt to get 3 in a row. At the end I had 2 corners twisted. I think I messed up in the analysis stage. Anyway, I decided to just move on to a new scramble instead of trying and trying to get the solve on the one I messed up on.

Here is my new story. And I solved it on the first try.

F L' D B' R' U2 B U' F' L B' R D2 L' F R' B' R' U2 L
U1cookiesFred-[W]
Doughnuts4youBob
H2H
JE1 edge 3-cycle
Twist A and B
Falling4Christ
Kevingivespraise-[R]

I was sitting upstairs with the door open. The kids were having fun downstairs making lots of noise.

I tried another scramble this evening. It seems to me I am still in the learning stages of this method and perhaps I should not worry about how many I get in a row. Just keep learning, honing, and having fun with it. On tonight's edges there was a 3-cycle, then 5 placed one-by-one, then another 3-cycle, then flip two. On the corners there were 4 one-by-one swaps and then twist 3.

On my first attempt I mixed up two letters, and didn't flip the right ones, and twisted the wrong way. It would help if I could tell clockwise from anti-clockwise! I think I will try it again before moving on. On my second try I corrected all of the mistakes of the first attempt, but left out one of the corner swaps. Doh!

[July 27] I'm not so sure about that. I am going to include the scramble and plan here in case I decide to go back to it.

U' L F D2 U R2 U' L' U' F' U L' R2 B' U2 B L' B' L U
Red down Blue front L2 then cycle with R U2 and E2
Foodgivesherupsetstomachdiarrhea
L2 then cycle with R Di and Ei
Flip O and R
Forgive
OhHolyChrist
123 anti

Tonight we had yogurt offered with our meal. And there were some left-over beans. David eats plain yogurt. He insisted on mixing beans in with his yogurt. He ate quite a few. I tried it. Not bad. We eat sour cream with refried beans. This wasn't that much different. :D

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

One Down. Again. Wait—Make That Two!

OK, I am back to 1 in a row. It happened with this scramble and story. You can see my stories are branching out into other things besides just food, and besides just three-word sentences.

D F' U L' B' U R2 F U' L' D2 L B U F' D B2 L F2 L U' B2 D' L' D'
KevingetslostalwaysinJulyBob
VicraisespraisesFlip D
DavidcleansunderwearHenry
Twist 1 2 3 anti

Time for a new scramble. I wonder if I could get two solves in one day. That would be a first.

By the way, Annie is getting to be quite the pattern master. Not as good as Roark yet of course as he has years of experience, but she is starting. And of course Roriana is quite the budding pattern master too. In fact she is the one who inspired me to show Annie patterns.

F2 D B2 D F2 D2 F' D R' B' D B' D L' R F' U B' L' R U2 B F2 D' L' R' D2 L2 U B'
Flip F and H
Kings4YahwehincludeHezekiah
DavidreignedbeforeUzziahentertained
ChristdiedwithsinnersVic
But1understood

How about that? Two scrambles and solves with my eyes closed in one day. 

Monday, July 24, 2017

Commutator Solves are Much Faster!

6 minutes 20 seconds. Really less than that because I had to wake the iPhone and tap stop on the clock app. In this solve 2 of the edges started solved. 6 were solved with a couple commutators. And the other 4 with a quick easy double swap. Then 2 of the corners just needed twisted. The others were done with the one-by-one swapper. By the way, I did not mess up on this solve, but since I am not real comfortable with the commutator solves yet I practiced the edges on another cube before doing the whole thing.

F2 D2 L' D2 U' B' D B2 R' U2 F2 D U' B L F2 L D L' R' U2 L' F L' R2 U R2 D B L
Red to frontR2 Di M D R2 Di Mi DSolves A and B
R then Blue up and Orange to frontR U Ri E R Ui Ri EiSolves D and G and R
L2 R2 BM2 U2 M2 U2Bi R2 L2Solves I J K L
Flip I and JTwist C and B
24 Indians-valuelifeeternal

David just solved the white cross with his eyes closed on the bandage kit cube and announced that he was doing so. :D

It has been a cold stormy July 24. I wish I could bring this weather home with me to California! 

Saturday, July 22, 2017

Fail

I went for my third day in a row solving with my eyes closed but messed up. Not sure where. I do know that the first time I messed up I had a flying something buzzing around my ear at one point. I don't know if that is when I messed up or not as I kept my eyes closed. I tried again later and failed again. This time it was when the family was outside playing in the water. Did it have something to do with it? Maybe. At any rate, I would like to be able to solve consistently even in the midst of distractions.

Now I am just working through the solve little by little checking as I go. When I got down to the last three edges I saw it was a 4-cycle. So when I am down to the last two edges, it would be a 3-cycle. I should take advantage of this whenever possible.

Flip P and STwist F and H
Yolandax-dines ongrapesRay
1 (Juan)understandslemons
Breanninsists ondoughnuts
Breanngets2
Vicownshoney

In other words, I could have done Juan understands lemons, Breann. And then finished the edges with a 3-cycle instead of two swaps. And on the corners I could have done Breann gets 2, Vic. And then finished the solve with a 3-cycle.

Friday, July 21, 2017

Two Days in a Row!

Today marks the first time ever I have had two successful solves in a row on two consecutive scrambles solving on my first attempt with my eyes closed.


Fredknowsgrapes
Papaunderstandsraisins
Breanninsists onveggieseveryJuly
Carlvaluesbeans
Wally insists on2
Twist 1 anti

The actual solve was done in the car on the way back from Krumlov where we met up with Cousin Carl and Phyllis, and their friends Blake and Kathleen. They were sweet people and fun to meet.