Update time

And the plot thickens ... Some of the stories we write for Agent Life are continuing ones.

So in the spirit of the new year, here are updates on two people we've chronicled in past Agent Lives -- both, coincidentally, named Mike.

When we last spoke to the first Mike (this past summer), he was in the middle of following a lifelong dream by moving full-time from the travel industry into the entertainment business.

Mike Lyons, most recently a vice president at Philadelphia-based incentive management firm McGettigan Partners, was using his travel industry experience in his new life by trying to sell a television sitcom set in a fictional Philadelphia travel agency

Now things are moving a lot faster than Lyons anticipated. He and his partner on the project, Rob Kneen (president of Traveline Travel in Cleveland), seem close to snaring their first choice for the lead of the show -- actress and singer Bette Midler.

They have been meeting with Midler's partner in her production company, Bonnie Bruckheimer, who told them "the timing is perfect because Bette has a commitment to do a sitcom with CBS -- they just haven't been able to settle on the right premise."

Bruckheimer said Lyon's project "would be fabulous for Bette" especially because it would "put her in situations where she could do some singing," according to Lyons.

In the program, called "Bon Voyage," Midler's character-to-be was a performer in a singing group before she opened her agency.

Lyons also is talking seriously with Danny Jacobson, who produced the television series "Mad About You," about eventually taking over production of the series.

He also is trying to get James Burrows -- famed for creating the legendary show "Cheers" -- to direct the pilot.

Although no deals have been made, Lyons is hopeful the pilot will be filmed in the spring.

Nothing is certain in the entertainment industry, where many pilots vie for a spot on the air, but Lyons is upbeat about his chances. "I'm very persistent. The minute they say 'no thank you,' we're going to try again someplace else," he said.

(For an update on the other Mike, see below).

A heartwarming story, Part 2

The other Mike whose story we're updating is Mike Durnell, whose saga first appeared in the Fall of 1998, issue of Travel Weekly.

Many people in the travel industry helped Mike, son of travel consultant Doreen Durnell (of Ranch & Coast Travel in Del Mar, Calif. ) after he lost both an arm and a leg in a car crash in late 1996.

And the help continues. Rick Sasso, Celebrity Cruises president, who donated a cruise for an auction to help with Mike's medical expenses in 1998, donated another this past year.

Mike himself faced more medical battles in 1999. He underwent painful experimental shoulder surgery in preparation for receiving an arm prosthesis, and problems with his prosthetic leg meant he had to navigate his college campus, the University of California at Riverside, in a wheelchair.

"The campus is pretty hilly, and the physical challenges he faced were tough," said one of his champions, Cindy Bertram. But in Mike's last quarter before graduation, "he pulled a 4.0 [grade point] average, which was phenomenal," Bertram said. An agent at Eagle Travel in Merrillville, Ind., Bertram has been helping Mike since she met his family on a cruise; she engineered Sasso's involvement as well.

Bertram was proud that "Mike's goal was to walk at graduation -- and he did just that."

Why has the Saturn automobile company been so successful with its "no haggling" price policy? Because most Americans dislike negotiating.

We're far more comfortable with simply paying a stated price. And if that price is too high, we'd rather search for a different seller than negotiate.

Yet negotiating is very much part of our business, so here are some tips for better bargaining:

Marc Mancini is a professor of travel at West Los Angeles College.