Lilly's in Israel

Having worked with many a talking hair-do over the years, it's not uncommon to catch an old colleague reporting from some far off locale. But I must say, I did a double-take this afternoon when I saw my old pal Erik Liljegren go live(!) from Israel. Since leaving our newsroom less than two years ago, Erik's made the most of his correspondent's gig at Fox News Channel. From Hollywood to New Orleans to Manhattan, Lilly's popped up at more stateside imbroglios than I can list. Now he's gone global, filing live reports from war-torn Haifa and other less-ravaged parts of Israel. When I rang him up in Tel-Aviv, the intensely casual New Jersey native scoffed at my words of praise and concern. Instead, he wanted my thoughts on a manuscript idea he was noodling with on his downtime. If I didn't love him so much, I'd hate that guy...