Sudoku and Kakuro puzzles

I learned about sudoku puzzles when I was in middle school and got addicted. For those who do not know what they are, please go to this link for an explanation. I would try to describe it myself, but these is a good chance you and I will both get confused. Therefore, please go to the previously mentioned link, where someone has already comprehensively explained this activity - including a step-by-step example.

When I first started working on sudokus, I found it was much easier than trying to solve a crossword puzzle since I rarely used the complex words that these games asked for. On the other hand, I loved math and it was quite fun solving a puzzle using arithmetic and logic to eliminate the possible choices for each box.

My algebra teacher, who taught the class about sudokus, would keep a pile of the puzzles on his desk for us to pick up whenever we had free time. I ended up taking a lot of those sheets and was solving them at every chance I had. He saw my interest and introduced me to kakuro puzzles. This game is similar to sudoku, but rather than me trying to explain the differences, here's another link.

At that time, I was solving sudokus within a decent amount of time and felt confident about this new challenge. 20 minutes later, I decided that the kakuro he handed me... it was hard. I was never able to complete it. Eventually, the puzzles was lost and I forgot about it. Life went on and my time was filled up with all sorts of things. A few months ago, my schedule changed and I got about 10-15 minutes of free time in the morning. Not willing to sit idly, I started to solve online sudoku puzzles. I quickly became stuck between the medium and hard levels. The medium levels were solved quickly, but the hard levels were so complicated, that I simply did not have enough time to work on them. Curious about what else I could do, I searched for similar puzzles and eventually found a site with kakuro puzzles. It took some time, but I actually managed to solve one!

I think the reason for failing so long ago was because kakuros resemble crossword puzzles, which I am not very fond of. Once I got over that displeasure, I started to focus on the problem and was able to eliminate certain numbers and figure out the correct combinations. It was frustrating because it took me a while to figure out the sum of various numbers and subtract from the given number to see how much I was missing. This issue is a result of using a calculator for so many years. Now, that I have worked through a good number of these puzzles, my addition and subtraction skills are actually a lot better.

I'm glad I found these puzzles again and will probably continue to solve them until something new catches my eye or my little bit of free time gets taken away.

To you who stumbled upon this post, have you ever tried a sudoku or kakuro puzzle? How was it?

Valerie's Voice Actor

I recently finished watching the Danny Phantom series. When it was running on Nickeloden, I only saw a few episodes since I didn't have cable so I had to watch it at someone else's home. A little bit of researching revealed that Danny Phantom lasted only two seasons (what?!), so I figured I should be able to find all the episodes somewhere. Its a pity there are only two seasons. I thought it was rather good, but there were a few things...

Q-Link Personal Review

I work with computers a lot and enjoy the stuff that I do. The problem is that my immunity and stamina are not what you would call optimal. There were times when I would feel slightly sick after sitting in front of a computer all day. One day, I came home from working in a computer lab and my mother was shocked when my face had a green shade to it. She immediately got me a Q-Link pendant to strengthen my body against all the radiation that I am exposed to.

Q-Link products act as a booster to a person's biofield. They contain a certain frequency that resonates with the body's electronic field. According to the brochure I got with the pendant, the Q-Link is meant to help the blood cells stay organized and regular shaped.

Ever since I started wearing my Q-Link, I have not had any comments about looking sickly after being surrounded by electronics. While this seemed like the Q-Link was working, I was a bit skeptical and thought it might just be a placebo effect. There is this drop arm test that people can use to figure out if their body is negatively affected by the item they are holding. When using the Q-Link, I get varied results.

Nowadays, I am a bit more confident that the Q-Link does work as the company claims. The reason being that my family chiropractor started to tell me to take off my Q-Link before treatment. He uses a variation the of drop arm test to determine which areas of the body need treatment. He said that while he can still work on my body, there is a chance the Q-Link might block some of my problems and he may miss those areas.