THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2005
I left for the apirport almost immediately after class got out at 2:30 PM. I would have to skip Math 311, but it would be worth it. I packed the little bit of luggage I would need and left for the train station. The train arrived as I was purchasing my ticket, which was quite convenient. It is only about a 30-minute ride to the airport, so it gave me a chance to practice some more 3x3x3 solves.
Airport check-in proceeded as normal: I cubed while security X-rayed my bags and wondered why there were so many puzzles in them. While I was waiting for security, I dropped my speedcube and a center cap popped off, so I had to glue it back on. Some woman remarked that the puzzle must be easier to solve without that piece, but I explained to her that it seriously slows down recognition because I lose track of what face that is.
Eventually, after some heart American food from A&W, I boarded my flight and I was on my way to the Netherlands. I cubed for most of my flight, but I did get a nice two-hour nap before arriving at the airport in Amsterdam.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2005
Ron met me at the airport. He was easy to reccognize because he was the only person solving a Rubik's puzzle. We drove to his house in Almere where I met his wonderful family and saw his collection of Rubik's puzzles and trophies. I had never seen some of them except for in pictures, including Peter's Black Hole, which he gave to me. We did some 3x3x3 races (Ron won most of them, of course) and then he showed me how he updates the speedcubing.com website. He also showed me an efficient way of solving centers on a 5x5x5 cube.
Later, Ton came over and there three of us ate a wonderful dish that Ron cooked. After dinner, the three of us prepared the triphies for the German Championship and Dutch Cube Day. Afterwards, we had some races on the 3x3x3 cube. Of course, (again) Ron won most of them, but I did win a small numbert (two or three). One of my wins was a 15.xx PLL skip. ;)
By around 10 PM, I was ready for bed since I was already awake for the greater part of two days. I was extremely tired, so I slept like a baby until morning.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2005
Ron woke me up early to go to Germany for the German Championships. Ton arrived with his car and we drove to see the Germans. The ride to Germany was only a couple of hours. I brought some cubes with me for Stefan Pochmann that he bought on eBay, but I forgot them at Ron's house. We setup for the competition by preparing a couple of Stackmats with displays. I did some solves on the Stackmats before the competition and those who were watching seemed to be very amazed. It was funny, though, when I heard them speak to each other because I had no idea what anybody was saying.
The copmetition itself was very fun. I got to meet some people that I only knew from e-mails and by seeing their names on speedcubing.com. I scrambled for the blindfold round and the final round of the competition. Michel Bechatatou won and set a NR for single solve and average. Stefan Pochmann won the blindfold round with a NR of 7:30.56.
After the competition, I did some races with Stefan and Patrick Bellebaum. I also did a few with Ron and Ton, but of course my winning percentage was much lower with them. I then rode to Eindhoven with Ron and Ton to the Holiday Inn. Again, I met many more cuber that I only knew from the internet, but I also got to see some cubers that I met already at WC2003.
Many of us went out to an Italian restaurant for dinner. There was some cubing going on (duh!), but also a lot of conversation. We had some great cube races involving most of our table (I think about 6 or 7 of us were cubing at the table). I also did a couple of team blindfold solves with Stefan, and he showed me why he switched to cross at left.
After dinner, we headed back to the hotel. Stefan and I joined the French guys i their room until around 2 AM. We solved all types of puzzles: 2x2x2, 3x3x3, 4x4x4, 5x5x5, megaminx, blindsolving, team blindsolving, magic, master magic, clock, and others. It was a lot of fun, but eventually we had to get some sleep so we were ready for the next day's competition!
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2005
I set my alarm on my phone for 7:30 AM. It did not go off because I mistakenly set it for 7:30 EST, not realizing the time change. Luckily, Patrick woke me up and drove me down the street for the competition. There were again many people that I had communicated with only via e-mail and on the Yahoo! forum that I had the opportunity to meet for the first time.
The first event was the Rubik's clock. I made a mistake in my first solve, so the time was very bad (43.71). However, this was actually fast enough to give me the American record. My second solve was a lot more relaxed and my time was only 30.21 seconds. My final solve was the best of all (24.12) and only 0.12 seconds slower than my personal best, so I was very happy. My 32.68 second mean set the American record for the clock, since none yet existed.
The next event was the first round of the 3x3x3 cube. Most of my solves were pretty typical, though a bit slower than average due to the competition pressure. The fastest was 21.11 (I wish I could swap the first two digits...) and the slowest solve was 25.84 seconds. I placed 16th out of 38 overall, so I was happy with my performance.
There were many puzzle vendors upstairs, so I made sure to check that out. There were a lot of cool puzzles, but I had already spent quite a bit of cash just to get to DCD, so I only bought myself a new Magic.
I did not do very well in the 4x4x4 competition (3:20), but I set an (unexpected) new competition best in the 5x5x5 of 8:46. I had only solved the 5x5x5 once or twice since January, so that time was quite a surprise. I joked around with Dan Harris earlier that morning telling him that I'd be surprised if I finished my solve before the Stackmat turned itself off.
I did "okay" in the Magic event (which means good for most, bad for me) with a best of 1.28 and a worst of 1.84 seconds. My first solve, however, was a DNF (instead of the 1.65 on the timer) because I started with the puzzle upside down, so it was not solved when I put it down. I thus improved my AR average from 1.85 to 1.66 seconds. In the Master Magic, I did very poorly and had 2 string pups, but I did have one fast solve. That solve had a timer malfunction, though, so my time was inaccurate.
The finals were very exciting. Jean Pons broke the WR for the 3x3x3 single solve with an amazing 11.75 seconds. Ron van Bruchem won a well-deserved first place (finally, right? =D), so I was very happy for him.
After the competition, some of us went out to eat at a Chinese restaurant. Stefan and I did some team solves, which can be very frustrating. We did, however, manage some decent times on a couple of solves. (Ron and I got a 58-second solve, though!)
After saying good-bye to everybody, Ton and I brought Ron home. I thanked him for everything he did for me and he gave me a trophy for helping with the German Championships. Ton then brought me to his house. His puzzle collection is HUGE! He took out a 5x3x3 and said I must solve it. It took a while to get used to the puzzle, but eventually I was able to solve it. He also gave me a Cross-teaser (very hard!).
MONDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2005
Ton woke me up early the next morning. He fed me some breakfast and then took me to the airport. I thanked him for letting me stay and then headed off. I slept for most of the flight home, and then cubed for the remaining hour or two. When I finally got to Newark Airport, they checked my bags. The girls checking my bags took every puzzle out and scrambled them, including a couple that I do not know how to solve, so they are still not solved. I had a great time on my trip to Europe and hope to see everybody again at WC2005!