This Day in History

On this day in history:

November 19, 1863: President Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address, one of the most memorable speeches in American history. In just 272 words, Lincoln brilliantly and movingly reminds a war-weary public why the Union has to fight -- and win -- the Civil War.

November 19, 1969: Soccer legend Pelé scores his 1,000th goal and dedicates it to the poor children of Brazil.

November 19, 1977: Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to officially visit Israel when he meets with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

November 19, 1998: U.S. House of Representatives begin impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton.

November 19, 2009: In-N-Out Burger opens their first two burger joints along the Wasatch Front.  Each of these restaurants are about twenty minutes from my house, albeit in different directions.  There will be another one just a few minutes from my house, and it's almost finished.  I'm a little excited, but not enough to go wait in a huge line today.  Maybe tomorrow.

Some people out there (you know who you are, go hide your head in shame) aren't fans of In-N-Out, but I think they're pretty dang good... and fast... and really inexpensive.  The first In-N-Out burger I ever had was in Las Vegas, on the way home from a Disneyland trip with my wife about a year and a half ago.  That was before I ever knew about their (not-so) Secret Menu (here and here), so I only got a regular hamburger and fries.  Now that I know about the other stuff, I prefer their burgers animal style.  Sometimes a single, sometimes a double-double.  Someday if I'm feeling especially stupid, I might try a 3x3, but I will never, ever try this or this.

If I were to rank my choice of burger joints, I think I would put them in this order: Hires Big H, JCW's, Five Guys, In-N-Out.  However, this order can change, depending on my burger mood of the day.

Your history lesson is over.  You may return to your regular Thursday activities.

Confessions

Sometimes a little bit of confession can be therapeutic, and  there are a few things I need to get off my chest.  So here we go:

I slurp my popsicles.

I write myself reminders on little quarter-sheets of paper and bring them home, where they end up in random places to remind myself of what I need to do.  Sometimes I forget about the random pieces of paper, and then I find them months later, after I haven't done what I was supposed to remember to do.  I used to have a planner or a notebook when I was in school, but now I do this.  I'm not convinced that it's a better system, but it's what I do.

I have received hand-me-downs (and hand-me-ups) from every member of my wife's family, including her mom and sister.  I may or may not wear some (or a lot) of those clothes on a regular basis... Not so much the ones from her mom and sister, though.

I own a fat suit.  My mom made it for me when I was in high school so that I could play the part of a fat woman in some videos we made for assemblies.  I've used this same fat suit to play Santa Claus before.  Yep.  I'm that cool.

I enjoy making spreadsheets for every major financial decision.  I compare stores, brands, features, and prices.  I get this from my dad.  It's kind of a compulsion.

I may or may not own a pocket protector.  Okay, I do.  It was given to me as a gag gift while I was in the MTC.  I have never used it, though, but I keep it around for emergency costume situations.

If I have taken off my socks, I don't like to put that same pair back on, regardless of how long I wore them before taking them off.  Even if it was only a minute.  Also, I may or may not have a pack of brand new socks in my drawer that I have never worn.  I may or may not be saving them for some unforeseen occasion.

Sometimes I have a hard time keeping secrets.  This is especially true if I have bought my wife what I think is a good gift.  Christmas is really hard for me for this reason.  She's nice, though, and doesn't try to get it out of me and ruin the surprise.

Speaking of that, I just bought my wife a really, REALLY good Christmas gift yesterday.  I'm going crazy trying to keep it a secret.

I rarely carry cash, and so I charge everything I pay for (and then pay it off each month).  However, I usually feel embarrassed if I am charging anything under $3... so I have actually bought things I didn't really want in order to make the total go higher than $3 or $4 so that I'm more in my comfort zone of credit card use.

I may or may not have turned on my sprinklers while my neighbors were crossing through my yard.  I may or may not have laughed while they tried to figure out a way around it.  Why they don't just use the sidewalk, I will never know.  (I may or may not be the grumpy old man on my street.)

There.  I feel better.