A thoughtful-ish husband, for once

Today's strip marks the return to the Great Dishwashing Debates. I can't say I'm surprised; while I haven't been married, I do recall that who washed the dishes was quite an issue when I had roommates and no dishwasher. Anyway. Clearly the problem is that Fauna shouldn't be that nice to her husband. (And honestly, can we take a moment to acknowledge that Nudnik actually does the dishes? It's one of those things that's complained about so often, and I know I shouldn't praise him for something that he should do, but still.) Anyway. If that's how he is, that's how she should be. I know that sometimes I wash dishes as I cook...but sometimes I don't.

But hey, he did cook. And clear off the table. Though, again...what are these people making that they dirty this many dishes??? And what did they have in the top panel that they had so few?

Dogs, dieting, fashion, cars...and some meta

Sorry for my delinquence of late; I know, I've been terrible. I do recommend checking out the comments on the entry at CC about Al's death; some of his family and friends have checked in, and some people have also written some pretty moving comments. I also suggest reading this blog entry by a reader. Both he and Josh have managed to articulate their feelings about Al much better than I. (This is why I'm an editor, not a writer, people!) I will say that it makes me sad that there's been virtually no coverage of Al's death. TDIET is one of the few comics that's carried nationally, and has been around for a long time. You'd think the passing of its artist would merit some attention.

Anyway. On with the show. Four days in brief recap...

Monday. Mrs. Goosegg should rely solely on the dog for vacuuming purposes; I mean, why have a vacuum at all if you have a dog? Also, where did that table come from in the bottom panel? I'm sure you all also saw that this is a CC reader-submitted strip. So exciting!

Tuesday. I can't really fault Ragmop here. Part of the key to losing weight isn't to necessarily cut out all fatty foods; it's just to eat them in moderation. If he can be happy with samples only, more power to him. And isn't Fatburger a real restaurant?

Wednesday. This is awesome for many reasons, except the similarity to last Monday's strip. I love that Migraina actually calls him out for not going with her suggestion, and I love that Al included "send him to the moon" with the "striped shirt" piece. It could've been "The urge to stripe his shirt" or something, but the "to the moon" made it all worthwhile. Awesome.

Today. Oh, kids these days, with their loud music. Maybe Hekkie heard the plinking between songs on his radio. Notice that he never says that the noise bothers him; maybe he's just upset by his car making a weird noise? I know I am. And I applaud him for taking good car of my car.

STILL can't make it on your own

Today's strip totally threw me off, as I was convinced it was a repeat of the strip from November 12. It's not quite the same, but I had to look at this before I discovered the difference. The premise is the same, though--wife loaded down with groceries who has to open the front door herself. NOOOO!!!!!! Anyway. I still lack any sympathy. Do people really expect their spouses to be waiting by the door when they go grocery shopping? I understand that this is probably frustrating, but who knows what Mr. Cat was doing. And now that he's actually at the front door, he can help bring the groceries in. It's all good.

I do wish that Al would space these sorts of things out better, though.

What kind of home office doesn't have a stapler?

Today's strip alerts to the fact that it's apparently "Strips about working at home" week in TDIETland. It's almost like Al has only recently been alerted to the fact that people work at home now (though I'm fairly sure there have been strips here and there about it in the past).

Well, at least the bottom panel indicates that Al does realize that women have careers and such nowadays, though I can't help but notice the haircut of the wife. I almost feel like Al is making a statement, but I could very well be overanalyzing.

Again, this is a case where the guy working at home needs to say something. I know that it's hard to convince someone dropping by or your wife that you need to do work--it's very easy to say, as I sit in an office, right? I would hope, though, that Fondue pointing out that he's trying to, you know, make money, might help him persuade his wife to leave him alone for a while. I feel more sorry for him than I do for the woman in the top panel. I know that it's insanely frustrating to do housework while someone's just lounging around, but him watching tv doesn't stop her from doing what she needs to do. And she could, you know, tell him to get his own lunch if he's so hungry. And also maybe do chores of the sort mentioned in the bottom panel?