Cubing With The CZ Kiddos

All three kiddos have joined in the cubing fun this summer. I remember when I taught Roark how to solve a cube and Roriana had fun exploring on her own with patterns. Here I am teaching 7-year old Annie how to solve the cube and Alex and David enjoy exploring patterns. Alex is also getting into solving a little as he has learned UFDG, which I will explain shortly. Even David can put a short scramble on the cube and get it back to solved.

I have made a page about our cubing and included it in the menu bar. Go to page.

Puzzle Shopping Adventure #2

In the Spring I stumbled across cubes with Carbon Fiber stickers online and bought a cube, a skewb, and a pyraminx. I really like the black stickers on the colored plastic. And they are nice quality puzzles too. Well, the cube did have two issues. I have trouble distinguishing between yellow and white in some light, and it made a spring noise on the red side. I ended up removing the red cap and screw so I could lube the spring. It helped a lot. Last Spring I was doing puzzle shopping on Amazon.

At SpeedCubeShop this Summer I noticed a Z Colorful Carbon Fiber cube that has colorful stickers on black plastic. I thought maybe the colors would be better in dim light, but I was apprehensive about taking it apart to lube it. So the good news is that SpeedCubeShop offers a Professional Setup Service for $4.95 that I was assured by Cameron Brown, the owner of the shop, would eliminate all spring noises. But then the puzzles were sold out! Good news though. They got more and I snatched one up right away. I got it, a bright yellow QiYi Mirror Blocks Cube, and a SCS puzzle bag. There was a Labor Day discount and free shipping. But when it arrived, I'm afraid they hadn't done the Setup Service on it at all. Three springs were noisy, there is no trace of lube in it, and one of the screws was not screwed in as far as the others.

I emailed them. Cameron emailed back to apologize and offered to pay for me to return it so they could make it right. Or, he said I could have some of their lube for free and lube it myself. After my response he even offered to refund the setup cost. Whatever I wanted. I decided what I wanted was a Sticker Remover Kit that costs the same as the Setup did. He said they could do that. And that takes me to Puzzle Shopping Adventure #1...

But what did I do about the noisy springs? I popped out an edge and two corners then took off the three center caps of the bad springs, removed the springs and lubed them real good. I lubed the other screws without taking them out. There is still some spring noise but not nearly as often and not as bad. I wonder if the springs are even necessary...

Practice Practice Practice

Just did an eyes closed solve. I got confused the first time through and forgot at least one of the steps. It was a mess when I opened my eyes. Tried again, writing it out this time in the spreadsheet. Well, I just wrote the letters, even though I had sentences for part of it. During the solve my mind wandered some and I thought maybe I had skipped something but when I opened my eyes it was all solved. Phew.

The Tangram Cube is still fun and has my interest. I try to solve it once a day at least.

The Mirror Blocks Cube lessons with Josiah started last Monday. We got through the intro and the first step in solving it. I should solve it at least once a day too. I got some stickers for mine and am going to get a new one and more stickers. For now my old one is naked so I don't solve it by color, just by shape. That's OK, since that is where I need the most practice anyway.

I also gave the Lidbeck family a bunch of my puzzles. Skewb, Square-1, Super Square-1, Snakes, Magic, Pyraminx, the Tower thingy with all the shades of different colors of balls, and maybe more.

The Results Are In

I discussed the 4 cubes I have recently and wondered if there is a better one out there that is quiet, smooth, and has easy color recognition in dim light. I even posed the question to my puzzling Facebook friends. I haven't gotten any feedback from them yet but as far as my 4 cubes go here is what I think this morning.

1. The Zanchi 5 Stickerless is the quietest, smoothest, colorifest cube.
2. The Rubik's Tiled is noisy and clunky, but the colors are good and for some reason in spite of the noise and clunkiness I like to use it.
3. The Dreampark is smooth but has that sometimes annoying spring sound. The colors are good in bright light but not in dim light.
4. The Duncan needs more trials before I decide if I prefer it over the Dreampark. I like the look and feel of the Dreampark better, but Duncan may have an edge in the sound category.

I don't know if I could do better than the Zanchi 5 Stickerless. It is for sure my favorite at this point.

A Tough Solve. Four Cubes Discussed.

This scramble was really difficult for me to solve. I messed up originally because I mixed up a couple words. I changed the story a little to make it easier to recall. This one started with an edge 3-cycle which was quite easy and solved 3 of the edges right off. Then I went to the corners. But I tacked on an edge sentence as if it was a corner sentence. I tried to backtrack but messed up somehow and gave up. This morning I reviewed the story again and successfully solved it on the new Duncan cube.

B2 D U F' D U B' F2 L F' R D2 L2 B' F' D2 L2 R2 B D' F D U B D' U' F' D' B' R
cycle edges	L to S to C
Corners
I	Paul	Lengtat
Owe	Him	All	2
Edges
A	Great	1	Be	Yeshua
King	Eternal
2 (to)	Verily	Die

Of my 4 cubes the Duncan is my least favorite. I'm not sure if it is the stickers, or the lightness of the puzzle, or what. You would think I have a favorite of my other 3 but I don't. There is something about the Rubik's Cube with tiles that appeals to me even though it is sort of clunky and noisy. The carbon fiber Dreampark cube has a nice feel. And now that I have lubed the Zanchi I really like the way it feels. I don't like the way it looks as much as the other 3, but I like the absence of stickers when solving. I like the looks of the Dreampark cube except the light has to be right to distinguish the colors. So I guess I do not have one perfect cube. Does one exist? Probably not. Maybe I should pose the question online somewhere and see what others say.

Duncan Cube

Marae got me a new cube today. It is a Duncan speed cube. They are on sale at Staples for $5.00! Sweet!

My first impression? I like it. It is smooth right out of the box.

There is an FLCS student who has one. He wants to get together this week to see my collection and see if I have any tips on getting faster. He can solve the cube in 80 seconds. Did I mention he is only 6 years old?

Two in a Row with No Notes

The last two solves have been done by looking at the cube making up and remembering the story as I go then immediately going into the solve.

D L' D R2 B' U B R' F' D' B2 R' U' B U' F R' B' L U
D' B2 D' L U F' U' B U R' F' L' U' B R' B R' B U R' D2 B2 R2 B R'

Those were the scrambles. I can't tell you the stories. Well, I might remember the second one if I tried, but I'm ready to go to a new scramble.

I already have two 6-yr old best friends: my granddaughters. Now I'm getting another one: Josiah Lidbeck, a student at FLCS who, along with his mother, has learned to solve the Cube. He can already solve it in 80 seconds and wants to get faster. He also wants to see my collection. So we plan to get together next Thursday. I'm lovin' it.

David, Daddy and Papa Go Out

We had a nice trip to the mall. One of the stores is Globus, and that is the family name for the whole place.


When we got there I saw some birds in the parking lot that caught my attention. A little research reveal they were Rooks.



First stop, a little car ride. Of all the things David rode, I think this was his favorite.


It definitely had the most to it.

Next stop the little train.



There was a big locomotive in Sparky.





Going into the tunnel of the locomotive.






There was a display in Sparky for Rubik's Cube Brand puzzles, including keychains, 2x2x2, 3x3x3, 4x4x4, Magics, Snakes, and some electronicky thing. There was a QJ Skewb Ultimate there too. Raymond says the cost is around $7. Wow! I doubt I could find a price that good online. I looked a little and this was by far the best price and available here and now. I have one at home and I think it is too complex for the kiddos otherwise I would have jumped at the chance to get it.


Life is like QJ Magic Cube—
Made in China
???
no no no. Lots but not all.

Life is like QJ Magic Cube—
Choking Hazard!
???
no no no. That is not what it means.

After Sparky we went back to the train. Notice the guy in the background. He did not look like he was enjoying life at all.

One more ride before dinner.


The juice seemed to be the highlight of the day! He relished every last drop.


And of course the special day out would not have been complete without a new toy.

Český Krumlov

We went to the castle yesterday. We had been at least twice last year—this year was the best yet, except I forgot to enjoy the cliff face from below yesterday! I can't believe it!

This year we started at the top—the castle gardens. We hadn't been there at all in 2014.

(Below) it amazes me how they built the castle around the rock.

(Below) the kiddos seemed to enjoy looking at the river and the boats from the lookout up above. I zoomed in to see what the boaters were doing. Apparently they stopped to take pictures of one another.

(Below) the Bears are always a treat.

(Below) and of course trdelník is always a treat too! This time we ate it at Zapa Cafe, where we ordered drinks, and let the kiddos play in the playground. David had a ball.

(Below) Most of the time the streets were filled with people walking, but sometimes we had to yield to a car or truck.

(Below) Raymond and I enjoyed a made-in-the-USA Dr. Pepper he found in this little store. Each of the children got to ride in the stroller at some point.

(Below) On the way home we stopped for lunch. It was great! I had fried cheese. Lunch cost less than the local McDonald's and was a beautiful, peaceful, quiet restaurant.

Gotta Love It

The Before pic shows how I left the puzzles in the morning when I left with Raymond. The After pic shows what state they were in when we got home. I don't think anyone over 4 years old touched them while we were gone.

Fun at the Big Slide Playground after A Long Walk

After walking down the steps, and across the street, and up the road back to the Catholic Church, we stopped at the playground on our way home. It was fun. While Annie road the lion Alex checked our my Music library and chose a Steven Curtis Chapman song. They had fun on the slide together. Alex tried to climb the swing set pole while Annie was swinging. I brought three puzzles along to scramble—mission accomplished.

Summer 2015 Catch Up

Blogging has been a way for me to document some of the things that are happening this summer, but I don't always get around to it. Maybe I can do some catching up with a hodge podge of photos that haven't been given their own post. They obviously are not in chronological order, but they are all from the last couple weeks.


I enjoyed watching Alex do a Jigsaw Puzzle one day.

 


They grow some interesting plants around here.

 


There are several cats that hang out around the driveway area in front of the building that houses the landlords' place and the kids' place. The black one is the friendliest.

I know there is a lot the same about the plant life here and at home, but I was surprised to see this thistle.

 



Puzzles. Gotta do puzzles.

Our flight from SF to London was on and hot and cramped but we survived. Then the flight from London to Prague was great! It was short and cool and roomy. I could revisit a fun puzzle, and I even ate some clotted cream!

 

Chillin' in the pool with a puzzle and the kiddos.