I did it!

Doc finally conquered the feared Rubik's cube. It took me all morning. I even had a cheat sheet. It still took me all morning, and 2 cups of strong black joe. You probably think I'm an idiot since it took me all morning to solve it, or maybe you think I'm an idiot for spending an entire morning of my vacation trying to solve a $2 puzzle. Either way, it appears I'm an idiot.


Semantics alert: skip this boring stuff it you are not really into words. Idiot comes from Old French from Latin from Greek "idiotes" which is derived from "id" which means "one's own" or "private". Sigmund Freud used "id" to describe our inner spoiled brat. It evidently meant "layman" or "private citizen" who greek leaders apparently felt were ignorant. Turns out our modern leaders generally feel the same about modern voters.


The hints on wikihow read like an algebra textbook, so it took me a while to figure them out, and then I kept turning the back face clockwise when it was supposed to go counterclockwise, so I would finish a move and the cube would be randomly scrambled again. I got a little testy with Beth, so she headed out for a pedicure and told me to call her when I was in a better mood.


Anyway, my nephews have been waiting all morning for me to finish so we can actually go do something together, so I guess I'd better clean up and try to accomplish something useful today. Like shopping for more $2 puzzles to waste time on. It's 12:30 and I've had exactly 2 cups of coffee, so I'm not only testy, I'm starved. Time to call Beth and fake a better mood so I can meet her for lunch. DOC'S ADVICE: if you have an addictive personality like Doc's, whatever you do, don't pick up that old Rubik's cube collecting dust in your game closet.

Go here to watch a 3 year old solve it in 2 minutes. Then you, too, will feel like an idiot.

Go here to watch a guy solve it one-handed in 20 seconds.

I'm exhausted. Tonight is Spiderman 2.