[Clembo]

Since the OP is from California, perhaps he should be aware that it is illegal to idle a car for more than a specific (very short) amount of time there. More and more cities and states are doing or at least considering this. I have friends who have actually been cited and paid fines.

As far as the danger of driving short distances, I start a car and drive after just a few seconds of warm-up (typically when it comes off high idle). Some drives are short, others longer. I've been doing this for some 50+ years and millions of miles and have never had a problem. These are cars, not some fragile works of art that will disintegrate if exposed to the atmosphere. Give the engineers and manufacturers a little credit for designing and building something robust enough to be driven in a wide variety of circumstances, short drives included.

Despite all the so-called outside analysis and hypothetical rhetoric, if you just follow the owner's manual, you'll be fine.