I have been able to do it for over two or three weeks now, but I am able to solve the Rubik’s cube.  What a deal.  I remember fooling around with these things as a child convinced that I would never be able to do it.  But, now I can.

I don’t know what spurred it, but sometime last year, I bought a Rubik’s cube on a whim.  They still sell them at Wal-Mart, believe it or not. Anyway, now they come with instructions. Fantastic.  The problem is that it takes a spatial genius to follow the instructions.  Even with the instructions, it took me around a month of noodling with it to finally do it once.

Once I had done it, I left it alone for over a year.  In the meantime, I received the 80’s edition of Trivial Pursuit.  That came packaged with another Rubik’s cube.  Now I had two, the one I had conquered finally and this one.  I got the second one out of its packaging feeling safe that I had at least one cube standing as a tribute to my Rubik’s prowess. My safety cube allowed me to play with the second one with reckless abandon.

The second cube also came with the instructions.  With those instructions, I set out to beat the cube for a second time.  After about a week of hard core twisting and turning, I finally got to the point where I could finish the cube as long as I had a copy of the instructions around…hardly impressive.

I found that I could memorize one of the steps each day.  The way I do it there are 6 steps, each of which get more complicated than the last. After roughly a week, I had all the steps mastered and now I can do it.

A co-worker of mine also go the bug and purchased a cube at the Walgreens one morning as he was checking out.  He watched the videos on www.rubiks.com to learn how to solve the cube.  You can go there and watch the videos, they are dizzying to say the least.  Now he can do the cube and he does it differently than me.  The next step is to learn his way of doing it.  From the looks of it, it is faster.

What will they think of next? Computer titan Dell is adjusting its years old strategy of selling its computers only through direct sales. On June tenth of this year, you will be able to walk into your neighborhood Wal-Mart and take home a brand-new Dell Dimension.

Hooray, I couldn’t be happier. I am sure there are those out there who will not like this development, but who loses? No one! Dell expands its reach to customers who are unwilling to purchase online, and they become a stronger company for it.

Of late, Dell has been struggling. The company who was once the stalwart at the top of the computer manufacturing list was overtaking by HP a couple of years ago and have been struggling ever since. What is it that HP does? Well, glad you ask…they sell computers at Wal-Mart, among other places.

Dell spent too long resting on it laurels and cut costs to the point of alienation of its customers. I believe this move will gain back some new customers and will push Dell back to the lead.

I know I hate waiting for computers, and I only by Dell for my office PCs. If I spend my own hard earned cash, I want the computer now. All that to say that I have a Dell at work and an HP lappy at home. (The HP is getting old, it may be time to purchase a new Dell…from Wal-Mart.)