Most people leave their hedgies alone during the day due to school/work. You just need to keep in mind that you need to get up early enough to do a leg check before you leave to be sure nothing got wrapped around the hedgie's legs during playtime the night before. After that, the hedgie will probably go back to sleep. Mine goes to bed about 7:30 am, then doesn't get up until about 10 pm (unless he wants a snack, then he comes out, eats for a few, and goes back to bed--and that's usually around 3-4 pm if he does it). You just shouldn't leave your hedgie alone for 24 hours or more at a time because if the power goes out and it attempts to hibernate, 24 hours later will probably be too late to reverse it; whereas if you're gone during the day for school/work, by the time you get back the hedgie won't be far into a hibernation attempt.
Most of the things you listed are things that you really need to get in order and research before you bring your hedgie home, so you have a lot of reading to do! The cage needs to be set up before you get your hedgie home so that you can put the little guy in and let him have 24 hours of settle-in time without being bothered. Find out from the person you're getting him from what food they've been feeding, because even if it's the worst food in the world he needs to be on it for a week or two before you begin a transition to new food (if you're planning to switch to a new food, that is)--you also need to know so you can buy more of it later if you're staying with that one.
The stickies at the top of the forums are your friends. They hold a lot of great information. There's also a search function, and if you type in something like "cages" for example it will give you a list of every post that has that in it. You can find a lot of answers to your questions that way.
After you've read through the boards if you have any more questions, please ask.
