Sounds easy enough: All you have to do is type the names of all 50 states into a box … in less than 10 minutes. The site keeps a running list in alphabetical order of the ones you’ve gotten already, so it’s even easier.
Then you start typing.
The first 40 are a snap … took me less than 4 minutes (despite wasting way too much time trying to remember how to spell Hawaii … a lifelong mental block.)
Next five are a bit more buried in the memory bank, but I still have more than three minutes left to get that final five.
Now … things … start … to … slow … down.
Iowa … should have come sooner since I spent two weeks there while in college (yes, of course, a woman was involved).
Nebraska … understandable enough.
Ninety seconds left … heart pounding … embarrassment beckoning.
Utah! … Been a while since I’ve covered Novell, but that’s no excuse.
Forty-five seconds.
Wyoming! … Square state, of course, they’re easy to forget.
10 … 9 … 8 … Nothing. Thanks for playing.
Forty-nine ain’t 50. And for the love of all that is American, I could not imagine which one I could have missed.
Then the site gives me the sad news: Minnesota.
Dang! My only sister lives in St. Paul. I’ve been there a few times. Lovely place, yet apparently not memorable enough for me on this day and for this task.
Give it a shot.
