Okay, she had the slobbering part down. She had a foot-long string of drool going in the back seat as we headed for home. I kept waiting for her to reach over the back seat to nose my ear and lay a big dog spit line down my face. But, lucky for the folks on the Atlanta downtown connector, she didn't. She didn't get car sick either.

I also sort of made up for the no-stumbling thing, too. I had to cut down a turtleneck shirt to put on her to protect the incision from dirt when we go outside, and the sleeves were still a little too long. So she kept stepping on the left one and looking up at me as if to ask, "Why am I dressed like this?" I mean, I cut the things almost up to the armpit, but she's a Basset Hound for cripe's sake. Her legs just aren't that long. She does look really cute in her dark teal turtleneck from Target.

I was sure Deb would yell at me for cutting it up. (I could've worn that!) But she didn't. Last night we were balling the excess torso part of the shirt up into wad on her back, fastened with a rubber band. Kind of like a shirt ponytail. Today Deb went at it with the scissors again and turned it into a halter top. Tr�s dog chic.

Well, she's fine. Big slash in her neck but only three stitches. They won't have the results of what the growth thing was until next week. How'd you like to have that lab job? Here's a piece of dog; tell us what this bump is. Do they send that sample through the mail? Hello, Mr. McFeeley! What have you got for me today? Ooh! A greeting card, a bill, Kentucky Fried Chicken and carpet cleaning coupons, and a dog cyst! Does anyone else think Mr. McFeeley is kind of a creepy name for a postman?

Well, we lost the employee that I fingered for layoff today. She got two months of severance, which is pretty good. I feel bad about not feeling worse about losing her, though.

Sara is making dinner tonight. Deb's going to be at a tasting until about 7 or so. I'm going to try to update my laptop to Mac OS 10.1.3. Wish me luck on that.

Finished an excellent book called "Good In Bed" by Jennifer Weiner. I highly recommend it. Especially for anybody who needs a reminder that full-grown women can be hot as hell. (And the author's pretty cute, too.) Sara loaned it to me after tearing through it in a day. It took me three or four days to read it, but I wasn't being as voracious as I usually am. I think I was spending a lot of time thinking up sexy e-mails to send to Sara instead of reading.

It's an interesting book to read in public, though. Even though the title is fairly small on the cover, people seem to really notice it. My Exec Editor (a plus-size female professional journalist, just like the book's protagonist) when she saw it on my desk: "What is this?" Juan, the owner of the Mexican restaurant where I eat twice a week: "'Good in Bed', ah? I bet that's a good one!" Sara imitating me responding to all the wisecracks: "No, it's not a how-to. I could write that manual." She's so good for my ego.

The author has a great blog on her website. Think I'll e-mail her with a little Badsnake thumbs-up. We read a library copy, but I swear I'll buy whatever she publishes next, just to encourage her.