Blondie (8/23/09)

When I was out of a job earlier this year, I saw a police officer ticketing cars in front of the unemployment office during one of my many trips to fill out paperwork. I don’t blame the guy for doing his job, but it seems shameful to me that the city’s Department of Revenue would make it illegal to park in front of the unemployment office from the hours of 4:00-6:00. That’s when the highest number of people are likely to be sitting in line, waiting to speak to an official, and unable to move their cars to avoid a ticket. Needless to say, I drove around the block and parked on a side street, making very sure there were no parking restrictions to trip me up.

Blondie (7/16/09)

I have nine slices of roast beef in my refrigerator, although I had to go to the kitchen to count them. Even though I like lunchmeat at much as the next guy, I’m no connoisseur and can’t be counted on to keep a running tally of slices in my head. In fact, my trips to the deli counter rarely result in anything beyond the standard ham, turkey and roast beef trifecta. Every once in a while, I’ll venture into summer sausage territory (it’s particularly good with Colby cheese) but that’s about as bold as I get. To be completely honest, I’m a bigger fan of tuna fish than anything in the lunchmeat family of products. Dagwood would be disappointed, I know.

Blondie (11/4/08)

All this talk about “the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression” has me thinking about Blondie, a strip that enjoyed its heyday during that dark period in our nation’s history. This particular strip’s reference to “slow voting” should resonate with Chicagoans who took the time to fill out their entire ballot, including races for judicial retention and Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. There were also a number of local and county-wide races that deserved attention. It took me an entire day to research the candidates and make my choices, but I left the voting booth knowing I had cast an informed ballot for every office, and not just for president.

Blondie (9/26/08)

I have to hand it to Dagwood for the quality of his procrastination. Whereas the average employee might hope to tackle his long-term projects in due time, Dagwood feels confident that those papers will sit on his desk in perpetuity. He even stares directly at his boss and extends his index finger while making the claim. If that’s not authority, then I don’t know what is.