51 States of Grey

For the second time this week I was home alone all day and most of the evening as both wife and son had after-school social engagements, so to help pass the time I decided to improve my quizzing skills by committing to memory the 51 States of America (the party trick that so frustrated Ross in Friends); I could already recall many of the peripheral states but those without a coastline or international border tended, in my mind, to form just an amorphous grey lump in the middle of the continent, however once a logical system had been devised I was able to remember them all – how long I retain the knowledge only time, and possibly a future quiz, will tell.