Not much news on Brian’s condition, but this just ran on the NBC affiliate in Camden, N.J.

I hate cliches. I really do. But we really do go about our days without giving much thought to the butterfly-like fragility of life. One day, you’re a freelance journalist with a wife and plans for a family. The next, you’re in a hospital, fighting to survive.

Appreciate, appreciate, appreciate. The days, they go quickly …

Two updates, RE: my friend Brian Hickey, from his Facebook page …

**** Brian is currently has stable intracranial pressure, was taken off the paralytics, and responded to pain localization.

**** Please help Brian by showing your support at 7 p.m. this evening at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, NJ. NBC local news is sending a TV crew to the hospital’s main lobby/entrance at 7:00 TONIGHT. With a large crowd of friends and family, we are hoping the news coverage will prompt the driver to turn him/herself into the police. Please join us tonight to show the love, support and devastation that we are all feeling for Brian**************

I have a good friend named Brian Hickey. We’ve known one another since the early 1990s. when we both worked for The Review, Delaware’s student newspaper. Hickey (as we all call him) is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. I was just thinking about this a few minutes ago—in all our years, I’ve truly never heard anyone say a bad thing about the guy.

At the college paper, Hickey was as old school, hard core as they came. He smoked cigarettes and drank beers and chased after stories like a veteran newspaper guy from the 1950s. In the ensuing years he’s worked for a series of newspapers, as well as for a recent political campaign. Uh … yeah, I’m babbling.

Anyhow, earlier today I received this forwarded e-mail from Hickey’s wife. To say I’m devastated is an understatement:

At approximately 10:15pm Friday, November 28th, Brian was hit by a vehicle while walking along Atlantic Avenue (a residential street with a speed limit of 25) in Collingswood. He was out meeting old friends and we think he was walking to the Patco speedline to come home to Philadelphia as this was our typical route to the train. Brian is currently in the Trauma-ICU at Cooper University Hospital in critical condition having undergone bilateral decompression to relieve the pressure on his brain late this evening. The next few hours/days are critical and I will send updates when I can via email or facebook. At this time, I don’t really have words to describe the soul that left him for dead at the scene and unfortunately the automobile has not been identified but I pray someone comes forward.

Fortunately, a few moments ago I heard that Brian’s CT scan looked good.

I’m not sure whether I believe in God or faith or prayer or hope or what. But I do believe that Brian Hickey will not allow some punk-ass hit-and-run driver to take him down. No way. Not Hickey.

When I hear people who supported Bush express their concern over Obama, it usually has to do with either taxes or inexperience. What is never, ever, ever evoked is the ideal of pure decency. I recently heard Bush say in an NPR interview that he’s leaving office with holding dear the same values he entered with. From Gitmo to the destroying of unions to the erosion of environmental regulations and worker rights, I don’t doubt this.

From today’s New York Times:

WASHINGTON — The Labor Department is racing to complete a new rule, strenuously opposed by President-elect Barack Obama, that would make it much harder for the government to regulate toxic substances and hazardous chemicals to which workers are exposed on the job.

Purchased my first actual CD in eons today—Daryl Hall & John Oates: Live At The Troubadour.

Yes, you can laugh.

Keep laughing. Continue.

OK, that’s enough.

Really, that’s plenty.

Uh, OK now … really, stop.

I am reminded of a story my wife Catherine likes to tell. I first spotted her at a wedding, where she was the main of honor. I later asked the bride, Ellie, for her phone number, and she checked with Catherine whether she had any interest. “Well,” Catherine asked, “what’s he like?”

“Let me put it this way,” Ellie replied. “How do you feel about Hall & Oates?”

She was indifferent. But we still went out.

I have nothing more to say. Except that Hall & Oates kick ass. Are they better than the Beatles or the Stones or Bruce? Of course not. But they’ve had a ton of hits, and Hall possesses one of the great voices in modern music history.

So screw you.

I am shocked. Beyond shocked. Devastated. No, beyond devastated. How can Fox News allow liberalism’s great defender, the mighty Alan Colmes, to simply walk away? Who will stand up for all I believe in? Who will fight the good fight? Who will … aw, hell. Just read the release. My thoughts follow …

Fox News announced that after 12 years, Alan Colmes will be leaving the top-rated “Hannity & Colmes” at the end of the year.

“I approached Bill Shine (FNC’s Senior Vice President of Programming) earlier this year about wanting to move on after 12 years to develop new and challenging ways to contribute to the growth of the network,” Colmes said in a statement. “Although it’s bittersweet to leave one of the longest marriages on cable news, I’m proud that both Sean (Hannity) and I remained unharmed after sitting side by side, night after night for so many years.”

Sean Hannity said Colmes was “a remarkable co-host,” “great friend,” and “skillful debate partner.”

I actually appeared on Hannity & Colmes about three years ago, during late promotion for my Bonds book. I really, really didn’t want to do it, because I loathe Sean Hannity with every ounce of fire in my stomach. But, alas, a book whore is a book whore. So I went, sat there, listened to their questions … and came away respecting Hannity a helluva lot more than his doofus partner. Yeah, Hannity is Satan. But at least the dude has some spunk and brainwaves. Colmes was just a friggin’ moron.

Who knows? Maybe Fox will shock us all and pick a replacement who actually knows what it is to debate …

Buyout-Depleted ‘Star-Ledger’ Reassigns Two Journos — To Mailroom

By Joe Strupp

Published: November 19, 2008 10:55 AM ET
NEW YORK When a newspaper cuts its staff, those who remain in the depleted newsroom become valuable. But as The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J. slowly says farewell to 151 newsroom folks who took buyouts last month, at least two longtime journalists have been reassigned to the mailroom.

Reporter Jason Jett and Assistant Deputy Photo Editor Mitchell Seidel have been filing, sorting, and delivering mail for more than a week, according to sources.

Jett and Seidel, who could not be reached for comment, apparently declined to take one of the buyouts offered this fall as part of a companywide move to cut costs.

Publisher George Arwady threatened to sell or close the Advance Publications daily last summer if at least 200 buyouts were not taken and new deals forged with two unions.

In the end, the buyouts were met, with 151 of the newsroom’s 330 staffers taking them, along with other non-newsroom employees. In recent weeks, news folks have been leaving little by little, with all of those taking buyouts expected to depart by the end of the year.

Editor Jim Willse declined to comment on the mailroom assignment, while other staffers confirmed the move and revealed their surprise but requested anonymity.

As the buyout-takers continue to leave, the paper distributed a list to employees of those who will stay. The list is posted below.

Those staying include Willse, top columnists Bob Braun and Mark DiIonno, Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Matt Rainey, Trenton bureau chief Thomas Martello, Web site video telecast host Brian Donohue, popular sportswriters David D’Alessandro and Paul Needell, political veteran John Farmer, and TV critic Alan Sepinwall

No list of buyout-takers has been publicly distributed. But E&P has learned that it includes Assistant Features Editor Anne-Marie Cottone; Pim Van Hemmen, assistant managing editor/digital; two-time Pulitzer finalist Robin Gaby Fisher; courts and enterprise reporter John Martin; 25-year reporter Gabriel Gluck, and features writer Steve Hedgpeth, who wrote the popular Ricky Retro column.

Really, we’re making a big deal about nothing.

Really, everything will take care of itself.

Really, it’s no biggie.

Really … really … really.

Crap—watch this. Please watch.

After having a lengthy Facebook dialogue with one of my old high school classmates, I decided to break out the old yearbook and relive some pimply days from my youth. I stumbled upon something called the “Class Prophecy,” written by a kid named Dan Gertling. It predicted what many of us would be doing in 2010.

Because Gertling was trying to be funny (it wasn’t funny, but this is not Dan’s fault. Nobody is funny at age 18), the predictions weren’t real. For example, he said our basketball star, a gangly 6′9″ center named Larry Glover, would be playing in the NBA. Larry was good people, but well, he had recently signed to play ball at Norkolk State. Not too many pros coming out of that program.

In fact, the only person Dan got right was, well, me. He said I’d be a sports writer, and here I am.

But, if you think about it, is that something to be proud of? On the one hand, I accomplished my dream. Word. But, on the other hand, shouldn’t dreams expand after high school? Is it really such a big deal to do what you wanted to do … when you were pimply, poorly outfitted and lacking confidence? Hell, I had yet to kiss a girl. What did I know about goals?

Maybe the people who haven’t chased their high school goals are better developed than I am. They moved on, moved forward, dreamed bigger, later. Maybe I’m still the loser …

Maybe.

Tomorrow morning my sister-in-law is planning on having her dog Marlo put to sleep.

For years, I’ve mocked Marlo. She’s one of those long hot dog-looking dogs, and my introduction to her came about nine years ago, when my wife (then-girlfriend) slipped across the floor on one of her poops. Since that time, I’ve seen Marlo poop in the house, pea in the house, vomit in the house. We’ve never bonded much.

Tomorrow, however, I’ll be sad. She was my sister-in-law’s buddy for 17 years. As a new dog owner myself, I sorta get the pain. Last Wednesday I sat down next to Marlo and rubbed her nose. She’s a sad sight—spine speaking through her fat-deprived flesh; body bent this way and that.

Oh, well. There’s always a guinea pig …