First posted September 3, 2008, before edits:

I had been practicing this for awhile -- solving a fully scrambled Rubik's Cube while blindfolded. I did it this morning. Technically I was not wearing a blindfold, but I did have my eyes closed the entire time I solved it. The following is the story I gave at the Blindfold Accompishment thread at Speedsolving.com :

I just did my first 3x3 blindfold solve this morning! It is so cool to open your eyes to find out if the result was total chaos or perfection.

I spent time late last night trying to memorize it, noticed I was forgetting, so I finished memorizing in the morning. I wanted to be able to "recite" the data for each stage. I think I took maybe 1 hour memo total, and maybe 20 minutes to solve. (I had no concern about timers or clocks.)

The scramble was from the "Doug JTimer" version of JNetCube,
D R B' L' F D2 U L2 R' D' U2 L2 B2 L' D F2 L' B D2 R' B2 F2 D R' L2
with F=white and U=green. (That's default for JNetCube, but not WCA regulations.
Edit: I emailed Doug. He has fixed this for his June 1, 2008 version.)
When I solve cubes, I have F=orange, U=yellow. My cube opposites are colored r/o, w/y, b/g and the r,w,b corner goes clockwise.

I used the 3 cycle method as described by Macky. I number corners as 1=ULB, 2=URB, 5=DLB, etc. I number edges as 1=UB, 2=UR, 5=BL, 9=BD.

[[EDIT on Nov 23 2008: to clarify fully, for faces U (up), D (down), L (left), R (right), F (front), B (back) I number my corners as 1=ULB, 2=URB, 3=URF, 4=ULF, 5=DLB, 6=DRB, 7=DRF, 8=DLF. My edges are numbered 1=UB, 2=UR, 3=UF, 4=UL, 5=BL, 6=BR, 7=FR, 8=FL, 9=DB, 10=DR, 11=DF, 12=DL. I like to orient the cube with Yellow on U, White on D, Orange on F, Red on B, Green on L, Blue on R. Note my numbering system for edges is bad because "1" is likely to be cycled more than most cubies. Macky's system of 1=UF is better because it allow the 3-cycle (R U' R U R U R U' R' U' R2) to be done without a setup move such as U2.]]

This is my memo, as I recall now...
Corner orientation: BAAC ABAB (where A=anticw, B=okay, C=cw)
Edge orientation: 5A6 (hexadecimal for 0101 1010 0110, where 1 means flip)
Corner cycles: (1),(2),(3),(4,8,5,7),(6)
Edge cycles: (1,3,7,11,10,12,6),(2,4,9,8),(5)
Yeah, the corner cycles aren't too bad, but the parity makes it tough.
Edit on Sep 3 2008: just double checked after my post to see if I recalled my memo correctly. Yes, I did!

At the end I had to swap corners (4,7) and edges (2,8). I couldn't think of an easy way to set them up for an easy PLL. Then I realized I could swap edges (2,8),(1,3) and then setup for a T permutation, do it, and unsetup.

I couldn't believe it when I opened my eyes!

My 8 ball game is better than my 9 ball game. The high limit for 8 ball in APA is Skill 7, but I am a good 7. (The limit for 9 ball is Skill 9, but I am an average 8 in that, for now.) Last night was week 17 of 17 weeks, and the Top Performer will be determined.

Monday nights I play on nice 9 foot Brunswick tables with leather pockets. We play "Double Jeopardy" which simply means we do both 8 ball and 9 ball matches in one night.

Coming into the evening, my record was 12 wins, 1 loss for 8 ball. The loss was to Roy Pastor, a very good skill 7. All I had to do is NOT PLAY and I was pretty much guaranteed to win the Top Performer Plaque and MVP patch. Last night, we were destined to play Roy Pastor's team, and my captain was going to try to let me sit out.

I had some beers, and played my 9 ball match against Roy. I was up about 47 balls to 23 balls at one point. Both of our goals were 65 balls. But then... he started playing better and better. His safeties were all working, and he stopped hooking himself on his run outs. I only got maybe 4 more balls by the time he reached his goal. OUCH! That resulted in 14-6 points for our teams.

Still sipping beer, the captain decides to let his daughter (SL 2) sit out because her eyes are hurting and she has a heavy headache. I had to play.

I had to play Roy Pastor, the guy I lost to earlier this session. If I lost again, I woud probably not get the top performer plaque. And he was shooting well, and feeling fine, just winning our 9 ball match, and knowing he could beat me again in 8 ball like he did before.

I won the 1st game. He won the 2nd. I won 3 more. Now the score is 4-1 in my favor in a race to 5. He flubs. I start running out. I am left with a shot nearly straight into the corner, needing a draw back toward the side rail to line up for the 8 in the side... for the match. What do I do? I hit off center by mistake on the draw, causing my object ball to miss the corner pocket. HUH? I need to fix that really bad habit!

So, he finishes that rack, wins the next, using great defensive strategy, and then does a break and run. Now the score is 4-4.

I knew that little miss could potentially mean the loss of the match, and I was not as confident as I was earlier.

Well somehow, he pops a ball into a pocket and it pops out. No, I don't mean he rattled the ball in the pocket. It went into the corner and came back out. He didn't get another turn -- I won this final game and match, 5-4.

I hope nobody shot 100% in our division. To claim top performer, you need to play at least half the weeks, so at least 9 matches. So if somebody won 9 out of 9 they would get the plaque instead of me. Or regional APA did not send recent stats to our division (like they did for other divisions), so I don't know for sure if I got the plaque... 13 wins out of 14 matches. (Oh, I could be mistaken too. I might have lost 2 matches, not just one. I do not remember for sure. Fingers crossed!)

**EDIT**: I was told last Wednesday (May 21, 08) I apparently had 2 losses, resulting in 12 wins of 14 matches, which was not as good as another player who got something like 11 out of 12. I will find the precise facts when I learn them, and post here.

Nearly 3 weeks ago, I was playing a skill 3, so it was a 6-2 handicap race. I won the first 2 games. Then I broke and got the 8 on the break (without scratching). I was psyched because it does not happen often during my league play. Next I announced, "Now I need a break and run!" So, I broke and sunk something, and then ran the table out. I finished off by getting the next two games, winning 6-0.

The following Thursday I did a break and run during my 9 ball match.

Last Thursday (2 weeks since the other stuff) I got the 9 on the break in 9 ball.

So, having done all 4 things at least once in this session, I will be getting a Grand Slam patch again! It will be my eighth.

I think I first discovered the Rubik’s Cube around 1980 or so. When I first saw "The Magic Cube" in the puzzle store, I figured I would just mix it up and spend a few minutes solving it. After all, it didn’t look too hard. Well, 30 minutes later I found myself more frustrated than ever over the stupid thing. I payed cash, brought it home, and became immersed in it. My method started by solving a 2x2x3 section (leaving the top face and front face mixed), then proceeded to hack away, trying to make progress. I was able to solve a 2x3x3 portion (leaving only the top mixed) in about 20 minutes. But as all cubists know, solving the remaining face involves disturbing all the progress involved with the other levels. Often I would mess up and have to start all over again to make the 2x3x3. Eventually I figured out a couple sequences that would mix things briefly, but bring the top face into a new arrangement, where the top pieces would be twisted, flipped, and shuffled around certain ways. Using pencil and paper, I recorded the effects of the sequences I found. Using logic, I was able to chain the sequences together. The cube had me in its trance for nearly 2 days before I finally solved it! And part of my solution required the top face adhere to a particular pattern, and if it didn’t I would have to re-scramble it and try all over again!

Within a few more days, I was able to find another sequence or two for the top layer. Then I could solve it in just 2 hours, without needing to be lucky with the top layer. A few days later, I was able to solve it in 20 minutes.

I bought some books and learned much more. I read the intense treatise in the early 1980’s by David Singmaster, "Notes on Rubik’s Magic Cube" and eventually I could solve it in under a minute or two nearly every time. I bought the 2x2x2. I bought a "deluxe" version of the Rubik’s Cube when I had a business trip in England.

I bought the 4x4x4 cube and figured it out myself. In the early 1990’s I made a generic NxNxN cube program so I could solve larger cubes while at work (after work hours of course). My program used ASCII characters rather than colors. The sides of the cube were unfolded like a cardboard box and displayed on the screen. The largest cube I did was 31x31x31 because the library I used for displaying the screen had a limit of 128 characters along the horizontal. That one took me about 2 months to solve, off and on. (There’s around 6 thousand pieces in that but just 20 moving pieces in a regular cube.)

Recently (in Dec 2007) I took up the Rubik’s Cube again, after hardly touching it in the past couple decades. I could still do it in under 2 minutes. After some weeks of practice (and proper cube smoothing and lubing) I plateaued at 60 seconds per solve, on average.

So what now?

I visited speed cubing sites. I knew about Jessica Fridrich’s fast solving methods for years, but the 2 stage method of solving the last layer takes considerable effort to memorize. Still, I intend to give it a try. Hopefully I can reduce the my last layer solve time by 10 or 20 seconds this way. And hopefully I can reduce my first 2 layer time considerably too. My goal is 30 or 40 seconds average. That way I can win a Bud Light Draft or a shot of Washington Apple if I have to beat 60 seconds. I figure I need a few months to achieve this goal. Maybe a year.

A great trick is to solve a Rubik’s Cube while blindfolded! It sounds impossible, but after reading information about it, I believe I can do it. At the moment, I think my toughest obstacle will be to remember the cube’s initial state. Amazingly, a person does not need to remember more during the solving process, just less. As it is solved in stages, you can "check off stuff as completed" and gradually delete stuff from your memory.

A certain bartender in Maynard grins from ear to ear when I do the cube in the bar. After he sells me a couple 24 ounce beers, he drags one or 2 people over to me and says "Watch this!" Then he hands me a mixed cube. I twist away on it for about 60 seconds and slam it down onto the table, all solved. He says, "Is that COOL or WHAT!" He gets mighty impressed.

Not everyone shares these emotions. I asked this one person, "You want to see me do this in under a minute?" The person said, "No!! I hate those things!"

Read about it at rjohnson8ball.blogspot.com, and comment here if you wish. (You might need to be a blog member to comment there, not sure). It was my first major singles trophy in our regional APA. A few years back I got 2nd in 8 ball and 2nd in 9 ball, but they only gave me cue sticks for those wins. Oh -- I have won several 1st, 2nd, 3rd prizes at the weekly Tuesday night tournaments at the Billiards Cafe in Ayer... but those only have a few real worthy opponents and are small. [Edited Dec 12, 07] Actually there are some worthy opponents Tuesday nights. Liz Bernier, past member of WPBA, shows up as do some APA skill 6,7,8,9s. But also skill 3,4,5s sometimes. I got 2nd again last night Dec 11 and 2nd last time I went. I knocked Liz into 3rd both times. Unlike the Best of the Best tournaments (which maybe 1000 people read about) there is very little recognition for the winners.[done Edit]

Pass this around to people who have those fake videos or spam in their comment area. Some of those links can steal myspace identities.

To virtually get rid of ID Theft and Spam at your myspace, select

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Southern gal "Kim" rants about work life in a cubicle. Funnier than American Dad or Family Guy. Start with her latest CubeNews1 episode, "Between the Plastic Sheets".

So far, so lucky... In our region they give out something called a "Grand Slam" patch (also known as a Fast Eddie Patch, in tribute to a player in my nearby town who passed away a few years back). To get this patch, you need to get at least one of each of the following patches in one session of the APA:

8 ball break and run
9 ball break and run
8 on the break
9 on the break

Well, my 1st shot tonight gave me the 8 on the break, completing what I needed for my Grand Slam patch this season. Yay! That's the 7th total for me, since they began offering it about 5 years ago. Usually I get a few break and runs in a session, but not that 8 on the break. The 9 on the break happens relatively more frequently, but there was one session or two where that was the only thing I was missing.

My record is not so good on my Thursday night 9 ball division, but I've been very fortunate this session in my Wednesday night 9 ball division. So far I am 8 wins out of 8 games, untied at 100%. We have a player or two on our team who went up in skill level, so now that I reached SL 9, I might not be able play much more this session due to the 23 rule, if some of our players do not show up... Who knows. I might be needed to play, lose 2 matches, and not get that Top Performer Plaque. Oh well, we'll see. It's been a few years since I got a Top Performer Plaque. Getting the plaque would feel pretty good, but what would matter more is if I could feel more comfortable at my new skill level. I still feel like maybe I should be SL7 or SL8 maximum.

It might be a bit temporary, but I hit the limit in APA 9 ball. I was having several good games on 7 and 8 foot tables. I still need to improve myself more on 9 foot tables, particularly my stroke. This is another highlight in my life... Skill Level 9 in APA 9 ball.

Oops, I didn't read & understand Samm's directions until now. Her book is a cute little book to have around your personal pool table, or near a friends table. It's good humor!