jayefbe
Veteran
I'm getting more and more into cubing, spending more and more time on this site, so I figure I should introduce myself. I'm hoping to continue posting my PBs, goals, frustrations in this thread in order to keep track of my progress and maintain motivation. I also don't know a single cuber within 500 miles, so it'll be nice to interact with other cubers, even if it's only in the virtual world.
About me:
My screen name is pronounced J.F.B., which you may have guessed, are my initials. My name is Josh.
I'm a graduate student, working on my PhD in evolutionary biology at the University of Oregon. My research is focused on the evolution and origins of adaptive traits. If anyone is interested in ANYTHING ecology and evolution, feel free to drop me a message. I love evolutionary biology, and I love to share that passion with people of all ages, and all levels of education.
I'm currently engaged to the most incredible woman I've ever met. We're planning to tie the knot summer of 2014.
I currently own dozens of tarantulas, ball pythons, dart frogs, and one long-haired Chihuahua. I've kept and bred many species of reptiles and tarantulas. If there's a species of tarantula in the hobby, I've probably owned it at one time or another.
My cubing life:
I am a complete and utter newbie when it comes to cubing. I first solved a cube on Jan. 13, 2013. My younger brother was into twisty puzzles since high school and started speedcubing a few months ago. He had a few cubes with him when we were together for a family occasion, and I started playing around with it. I then learned to solve it using badmephisto's beginner's method. That was fun, but I almost immediately got bored and wanted something more challenging. So I had my brother show me some more "advanced" techniques, and started learning F2L that same day. In my experience, that worked out very well for me. If the beginner's method seems a little too simple, then there's no reason to put off learning F2L straight from the start, in my opinion.
Like any hobby I get into, I am obsessive about cubing. I enjoy it quite a bit, and spend a lot of my free time practicing. I primarily do 3x3, but I've started getting into bigger cubes and megaminx. I haven't started trying to really gain speed with those puzzles, but they are a nice distraction when I feel burnt out on 3x3 or I feel like things are becoming a little stagnant. I also do some OH drills to build up speed and strength in my left hand (right-handed but feel more comfortable with my LH for OH), but haven't really focused on it yet.
I solve using CFOP, although I've played around with ZZ method and Roux. I would one day like to be competent in most of the major speedsolving methods, but I want to attain a decent speed with CFOP before moving on to something else. I know full PLL, and am currently using 2-look OLL. I don't plan on adding OLL algorithms until I'm ~20secs. I might learn the dot algs because 2-looking them is annoying. The first 2-3 weeks of cubing, I focused almost exclusively on F2L. I would do the cross, finish the 2 layers, and then scramble and start again. And again. And again. I think it helped me out a lot, especially considering the importance of F2L for any solve.
anyway, my current PBs, at a little under 2 months since I started cubing. The single PB is for a full solve, I don't like to include lucky solves that include skips, at least for now:
single/ao5/ao12
23.67/32.34/34.15
At this point I'm fairly regularly sub-35. The sub-30 solves are somewhat uncommon, but are becoming more and more frequent.
My main goals for right now are:
1) cut down on cube rotations and unnecessary moves. Just be more efficient. Also, try to maintain a steady speeds with no pauses.
2) Learn and incorporate F2L algs for annoying and difficult cases. I've been using intuitive F2L almost exclusively, but I feel it's time to make some cases more efficient.
3) Look ahead! Look ahead! Look ahead!
anyway, that's me. And if there's anyone in Oregon, please let hit me up. I would love to know other cubers in the area, and would LOVE to go to a competition around here. Apparently, the nearest ones are in Northern California, which is just a bit too far.
About me:
My screen name is pronounced J.F.B., which you may have guessed, are my initials. My name is Josh.
I'm a graduate student, working on my PhD in evolutionary biology at the University of Oregon. My research is focused on the evolution and origins of adaptive traits. If anyone is interested in ANYTHING ecology and evolution, feel free to drop me a message. I love evolutionary biology, and I love to share that passion with people of all ages, and all levels of education.
I'm currently engaged to the most incredible woman I've ever met. We're planning to tie the knot summer of 2014.
I currently own dozens of tarantulas, ball pythons, dart frogs, and one long-haired Chihuahua. I've kept and bred many species of reptiles and tarantulas. If there's a species of tarantula in the hobby, I've probably owned it at one time or another.
My cubing life:
I am a complete and utter newbie when it comes to cubing. I first solved a cube on Jan. 13, 2013. My younger brother was into twisty puzzles since high school and started speedcubing a few months ago. He had a few cubes with him when we were together for a family occasion, and I started playing around with it. I then learned to solve it using badmephisto's beginner's method. That was fun, but I almost immediately got bored and wanted something more challenging. So I had my brother show me some more "advanced" techniques, and started learning F2L that same day. In my experience, that worked out very well for me. If the beginner's method seems a little too simple, then there's no reason to put off learning F2L straight from the start, in my opinion.
Like any hobby I get into, I am obsessive about cubing. I enjoy it quite a bit, and spend a lot of my free time practicing. I primarily do 3x3, but I've started getting into bigger cubes and megaminx. I haven't started trying to really gain speed with those puzzles, but they are a nice distraction when I feel burnt out on 3x3 or I feel like things are becoming a little stagnant. I also do some OH drills to build up speed and strength in my left hand (right-handed but feel more comfortable with my LH for OH), but haven't really focused on it yet.
I solve using CFOP, although I've played around with ZZ method and Roux. I would one day like to be competent in most of the major speedsolving methods, but I want to attain a decent speed with CFOP before moving on to something else. I know full PLL, and am currently using 2-look OLL. I don't plan on adding OLL algorithms until I'm ~20secs. I might learn the dot algs because 2-looking them is annoying. The first 2-3 weeks of cubing, I focused almost exclusively on F2L. I would do the cross, finish the 2 layers, and then scramble and start again. And again. And again. I think it helped me out a lot, especially considering the importance of F2L for any solve.
anyway, my current PBs, at a little under 2 months since I started cubing. The single PB is for a full solve, I don't like to include lucky solves that include skips, at least for now:
single/ao5/ao12
23.67/32.34/34.15
At this point I'm fairly regularly sub-35. The sub-30 solves are somewhat uncommon, but are becoming more and more frequent.
My main goals for right now are:
1) cut down on cube rotations and unnecessary moves. Just be more efficient. Also, try to maintain a steady speeds with no pauses.
2) Learn and incorporate F2L algs for annoying and difficult cases. I've been using intuitive F2L almost exclusively, but I feel it's time to make some cases more efficient.
3) Look ahead! Look ahead! Look ahead!
anyway, that's me. And if there's anyone in Oregon, please let hit me up. I would love to know other cubers in the area, and would LOVE to go to a competition around here. Apparently, the nearest ones are in Northern California, which is just a bit too far.
And there have been a few comps in Washington and there will be at least one this summer probably (or before summer) in Astoria 
Lookahead is the most important thing here. without lookahead sub-30 may be possible, but sub-25 is impossible. Don't get discouraged though. And, my PB was 20.30 for a month and a half before I finally got a sub-20 solve haha
it pleases me knowing I have been one of the reasons for you getting faster, albeit being a somewhat indirect one.
