pet connection

I make joke: It’s not mine. But here I am on the very last day of my book deadline (first of three this spring) and the media review coordinator drops off a Lexus RX 4ooh hybrid. (Motto: “Spoils the driver, not the scenery.”) And did I mention it’s a perfect spring day, great for a drive up to the foothills for lunch?

Ah, well, there’s always the weekend. I test-drive each DogCars.com vehicle for a week so I have this one until next Tuesday.

Some cars are very easy to give back at the end of the week. I’m guessing this one won’t be. Some cars make it very, very hard to drive my own 1998 Plymouth Voyager SE minivan. I’m guessing this will be one of those cars.

Christie is continuing to recover from her trip to South By Southwest in Austin and reports via e-mail that she has gone to bed with some tea. (Rule of thumb: Christie requires 1.5 days of rest for every day she is away from home before she can function fully. I’d laugh, but I require two days of rest for every day away from home, and my choice isn’t tea, but Xanax.) Kim is on deadline.

And our Dr. Marty Becker, of course, is on his way to New York City, for a long day of media appearances, starting with “Good Morning America” tomorrow. Catch it!

Update: By popular request! Our graphic designer Jay Gavron has now produced a DogCars.com Best In Show sticker for all you Honda Element owners. Here’s where you can get one. Thanks, Jay!

Update: I just took the Lexus hybrid to Woodland, which is on the other side of the county line from Sacramento … about an hour round-trip on I-5. Yes, I will ache when I have to give this car back. Responsive, powerful and the gas tank needle didn’t move off “full” for the whole trip. That, and the quiet at low speed was about the only way you could tell it’s a hybrid. Zow-ee. Too nice for a serious DogCar, though, at least with the ivory-colored carpets …