Remember when I said I was hungering for a new challenge? Well, I got it. I normally don’t like to do virtual puzzles like this; I like to have it physically in my hands. However, this was just too good to pass up. I’m used to solving a physical Megaminx in around ten or so minutes. This one, as you can see when you click the picture, is taking me quite longer to try and solve. It’s all one dodecahedal-type object; the left image is the “front” and the right is the “back”. The time in the pic reads 48 minutes, and I have all of the centers solved except for two. What’s left to do is match up the edge pieces and then solve it like a regular Megaminx.

The problem with this is time. Last night, between trying to get through this, talking to others in chat and making and eating dinner, I couldn’t solve it before I just got too tired. Today, I’m doing it, but I have to abandon the poor Gigaminx because I have a birthday celebration to go to (Happy birthday to Bill K., my dad-in-law!). I will solve this thing soon; it will just take some time. Unfortunately, you can’t save your progress… if it’s abandoned, you’ll have to start all over again!

If any of you out there want to try this challenge, head on over to this address: http://users.skynet.be/gelatinbrain/Applets/Magic%20Polyhedra/dodeca_f8.htm. Word of warning… please be prepared to set aside a few hours if you really think you can do it. Just hit the “Scramble” button and go crazygonutz with it. Make sure you also set aside some time for brain-rest breaks!

Rotsa ruck!

I’m very happy to report that today I actually went rollerblading for the second time in three weeks! I would have gone more often, but last Friday I had to work. Fridays are great for me to do this because it’s my normal day off and I get to do it around 7 a.m. or so, or before it gets unbearable outside. Saturday is the day I normally let Christine and I sleep in, then I make breakfast and coffee before I handle the birds while she cleans the cages. During the week, I dare not roll around when I get home from work! So, Friday will be the rollerblading day.

So, this being the second time, I’m also happy to report that I was ‘blading for nearly an hour. I did put in a couple of rest breaks because my poor ankles are just not used to doing this kind of torture exercise. Two weeks ago was the first time and I only lasted thirty minutes. I want to do this regularly because of several things. One, I sit in front of a computer (or video game console) too much when I’m not at work. Two, I’m no longer a young guy (*sigh* looks in mirror at the odd love handles) being 35 years old and already diagnosed a while back with slight hypertension. Three, I’m proud of the fact that I’ve kept my gymnast’s form for so darn long… and I want to keep it for at least another 30 years!

The last point brings me to mention that I’ll also be exercising with Christine. She has gotten back to it on the recommendation of her doctor, since she was diagnosed with moderately high cholesterol. (She can’t wait for my levels to be tested!) I’ll be working on mild calisthenics, military pushups and crunchers while she uses the balance ball. Truth be told, I wouldn’t mind getting my own balance ball. It’s fun to use! (and crunchers are harder on it!)

I’m still exercising my mind with puzzles, too. I just ordered a new puzzle from Mefferts.com, called a Pyraminx. You can click the name for the Wiki entry on it; it’s a medium-difficulty puzzle (they list it as low difficulty) and it shouldn’t be hard at all for me. I just got it for the collection that I’ve got building on my desk’s filing cabinet! Mefferts is also making a puzzle called the Pyraminx Crystal, which is more of a Megaminx variant. I may order this one when supplies are ready to ship. But the thing that really blew my mind is when I discovered that someone actually created a higher-order Megaminx, aptly called a Gigaminx!! The guys who created their own versions may have plans to patent the design, but there are no production plans. Guess I’ll have to stick to the computer simulation. (You can try it by clicking here!) There’s also a Google video posted of someone solving the simulated Gigaminx!

Well, that’s all for now. I may write tomorrow, but I’m not sure what to write about. I’ve wanted to post another music review; there’s still a few new albums in my collection that I haven’t touched on yet. Or I could write about our good fortune with our tax-returns. We’ll see, won’t we? Cheers!

First, I’d like to thank all my readers out there, no matter how frequent their visitations. This blog, as of the last post, passed the 400 post mark! I couldn’t have achieved that without the support of all of you. Thank you! So I guess you all will stick around for the 500th post, eh?

Second, I need to vent my frustration with one aspect of cubing. Ready? Here goes…

AAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Things like this are really aggravating. This is the third time that my 5×5x5 Rubik’s Professor cube went completely discombobulated on me. None of the pieces themselves are broken, like with what happened to my first 4×4x4 Rubik’s Revenge, but it’s extremely time-consuming to put it back together. In the picture you can see everything grouped: outer edge, outer center, inner center, corner and inner edge pieces and the core in the middle. After the picture was taken for this entry, I boxed up the pieces and put it underneath the bed. Before I did that, though, I placed an order on this eBay page for a 4×4x4 and 5×5x5 Eastsheen cube set. Eastsheen is a “chinese knock-off” variant of the Rubik’s brand that is purported to be much more stable and durable than the Rubik’s brand. I wonder why the company that makes Rubik’s brand simply didn’t adopt the manufacturing specs for these; they seem better constructed, from what I’ve seen.

I only ordered the 4×4x4 cube because I know that what happened to my last Rubik’s 4×4 will certainly happen to my current one in due time.

Well, wish me luck with these when they come in. I’ll post pics and reviews when I get the chance!

One more thing: Christine and I are shopping around for a new cellular contract, because our Sprint contracts are up in May. In light of a recent windfall, and Apple’s SDK announcement, you might see an awesome cellphone review in a couple of months! Stay tuned, and cheers!!

I have to give a tip ‘o the hat to Chris Pirillo, egomaniacal geek that he is, for pointing this app out.

Click on the thumbnail to embiggen the image of my new desktop (wallpaper, for you Windows sufferers users!). I created that while using this awesome fractal-generating app called Oxidizer. It’s an open source project on Sourceforge.com and, so far, it’s only available for OS X. Be warned, though; you will definitely need some muscular processing speed to render any thumbnail samples generated by Oxidizer to full size images within a decent timeframe.

Case in point: Chris Pirillo demonstrated this app on his quad-dual-core Mac Pro machine. That’s 8 processor cores, compared to my lone PPC 1.8 Ghz G5 processor. It took him all of 37 seconds to generate an over-2000px wide image. It took me seven freakin’ hours to generate this image you see in the post to 1680×1050px resolution!! Oh, by the way, this thing does fractal morphing animations as well. So, yup, definitely think twice before doing any serious stuff with this app if you have a underpowered (read: over 2 years old) computer.

If you want to use this image for your own (legal) purposes, click here to download it in 1680×1050 widescreen goodness. (567 Kb download)

Cheers!

Yesterday was the day many men, like myself, scrambled to get something to present to their significant other. Most men are very familiar with what happens when they show up empty-handed on this vaunted Hallmark™ holiday. Speaking of that, as most of my co-workers happen to be of the female persuasion, I got their thoughts on Valentine’s Day. The consensus of most of them was that they really don’t consider V-Day to be that big of a deal… buuuuuuut it’s nice to give and get a little something nice anyways. But I digress…

Anyhoo, I went to the store yesterday and plopped down a little greenback for some flowers and a card. The lady behind the floral counter seemed a little perturbed when I made my slightly unusual request, after doing a little thinking about what would be a original (for me) idea. I’m known for being at least slightly creative and I love trying to think outside the box. I requested some specific flowers, with the instruction that no vase or arrangement will be necessary (which surely made the floral lady’s job a bit easier!). After I got home, the work commenced. Here’s the result:

click the pic to enlarge

There are eight roses in the vase. Two red ones for Christine and I, and a pink rose for each of the birds. I cut and arranged the whole presentation, along with the Gypsophila elegans. I think I did a pretty good job, considering I don’t do this kind of thing very often.

Well, that’s all for now. Brief aside: I’ll be trying something different for my video blog entries on here and on YouTube. That’s all I’ll say right now. Cheers!