How I waste my time

I just spent 25 minutes of my life on this little java-based puzzle (I needed to get a perfect score on each puzzle because I have O-C tendencies and it took me that long to do it). Non-verbal IQ is usually based on puzzles similar to this one. An experimenter times how long it takes you to solve them and calculates an IQ score from that time. I've always been pretty good at these types of visual games but I'm skeptical of (or at least ignorant as to) how this ability translates to what we generally refer to as "intelligence".

I always assumed that it all has to do with memory and the ability to mentally manipulate complex ideas (like being able to rotate a set of cubes in your head, so that you can imagine seeing a shape from two directions at once). I think I'm an above-average map reader, I can orient myself toward a cardinal direction even within buildings, and have a great memory for places I've visited before such that I can retrace a path I had traveled only once, five years ago. But my memory for names, dates, places, and events is truly terrible. I will easily forget what I ate for dinner yesterday or when I was supposed to have a project done by when told just hours before. Even more alarming is the consistency with which I experience the 'tip-of-the-tongue' phenomenon on a daily basis.

I'd like to read more about what psychologists and cognitive scientists have learned about different types of memory (visual-spacial, procedural, etc) but I'm too busy trying to write a paper (and playing stupid little block puzzle games).