I'd never thought of having a rabbit as a pet.

So you can imagine my surprise when one turned out to be my birthday present.

Al picked me up from work on Friday (instead of me taking the bus) as a treat and we mulled around, window shopping in the small complex near my work. As always, we made a stop in PETCO, Al's favorite store.

Bypassing the serpents and spiders, we made our way to the kitties, gerbils and bunnies. All the while Al was chatting about how wonderful it would be to have a small pet - not a kitty- but a gerbil or a hamster. I wasn't sold on the idea. Finally we happened upon a little bin of dwarf rabbits. They sure were cute.

My favorite one had almost a lion's mane of tuffed hair surrounding her face. When the PETCO worker took her out and handed her to me, she started sniffing and nuzzling my neck.

What would you have done?

"She's a runner like you and eats the same things you do" said Al, as he told me he wanted to get her for me for my birthday. So it was decided. The cage, rabbit and a few chew sticks were packed in the car and off we went.

"Can I name her?" I asked.

"Of course - she's your present."

"Jane Austen". Alex rolled his eyes but grinned.

The name comes from my favorite author of all time but also from the TV show Gilmore Girls. The dog on the show is named Paul Anka, and while my rabbit's namesake has very little to do with that of the dog (Paul Anka is a Vegas lounge singer, I think), I'm all in favor of naming animals after humans we love.

Jane has already explored the apartment thoroughly and played a game of tag with me and now she is relaxing comfortably in her cage. Ah the life of a rabbit.