Blogger, 30, hit by bus and killed

This is a story that will make you appreciate what you have and live every day as if it were your last.

Blogger and all-around good guy Adam Finley was killed when he was was hit by a bus while riding his bike. He was only 30 and a shining example that most great writers and editors of our generation have bypassed traditional media all together and are reaching audiences directly through the web.

I take special interests in these stories since I'm also supposed to be dead. Born with a congenital heart defect (specifically a hole in between my heart ventricals called a VSD -- ventricular septal defect), I was in heart failure at 18 months. This was before they operated on babies, so if my heart hadn't righted itself, I'd be dust and bones -- very little dust, and probably only dust, at this point. And then I made another run for the dirt sandwich when my aortic valve burst days after it was repaired in 1994 at a tender age of 19. Luckily they were able to implant an artificial valve (St. Jude's #25 aortic valve to be exact) that I wear proudly today.

It's a cliche, but live life. If you hate your job, quit and do something you want to do (or stay ... but if you stay, stop complaining about it since you can leave it you want). If you're in an aweful relationship, get out of it. If you have kids, appreciate them and enjoy them. If you don't, consider yourself lucky (just joking Kass! -- you know I love you and the kids more than everything ... except for poker, golf, my BlackBerry Curve and gummy bears ... once again, just joking!) Appreciate all that is good in your life. Cut out the toxins.

As this story and countless others remind us again and again, you just never know what can and will happen.