Blog Post #2: Buying the Cube

 Hi Everyone :) 

   Thank you for coming back to my blog this week! I hope everyone is having a great week and is keeping warm during this freezing cold weather we've been having. I just wanted to update you on my research for my genius hour project this week. This week I spent half of my research hour gathering materials, and for the other half, I watched a video on how to solve the Rubix cube. During the first half of my hour, I headed out to Walmart and bought my first ever Rubix cube (It was on sale, it looks like it was meant to be!). I looked at the cube as it looked back at me, and both of us knew that we would be spending a lot of time with each other during these next ten weeks. As I was cashing out, I realized that these 26 unique miniature cubes are all that stands between me and achieving my goal. As I was walking out of Walmart I felt confident that I was going to solve this cube in no time, little did I know the challenge that was awaiting me. 

   When I finally got home, I spent the second half of my hour watching a video on how to solve the cube (Video link here). The video I watched was a video by Wired, and it was a 24 minute tutorial on how to solve the cube. Included in the video was the proper notation of the cube, explaining what each of the pieces we called and ultimately the most straightforward step by step method on how to solve the cube. When the video finally finished, the magnitude of this task finally hit me. Figuring out this cube is going to require a lot of hard work, a lot of memorizing various algorithms and lastly and probably most importantly, a ton of practice. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't intimidated a little bit. However, I told myself that the key to this challenge would be coming up with a plan and sticking to it. My goal for next week's research hour is to try and solve the cube for the first time, following along with the video and the second by myself, hopefully. 

  I don't think I have any questions so far based on this hour; however, I know that the internet will be my best friend if I do. The good news about this challenge is that there are many helpful videos and articles to read about the cube. 

  Well, that's all for now, everyone! Thank you so much for reading this week, and as always, stay safe and stay tuned for the next instalment coming soon! 

  Luca D'Amico