Conditions and such are pretty much what you would expect from a factory in China. In fact, compared to conditions outside the factory, the workers seem to have it pretty good.

Although, the nets around many of the buildings are a bit disturbing.

I also had a chance to go to the Bass Pro Shops “Outdoor World” store. If you’ve never been and are a fan of any of the following: hunting, fishing, guns, knives, fishing boats, ATVs, camping (or any combination of the these) you owe it to yourself to go there as soon as possible.

I’ve been to a lot of stores in my time, and big ones too, but this one is the most massive devoted to the “outdoorsman” I’ve ever been in. I’ve been told by those in the know that they have an even bigger store near Las Vegas, but I can’t confirm that info at the moment.

And no, I didn’t buy anything. I don’t hunt, I don’t fish and I haven’t camped since I was forced to when I was Boy Scout. I prefer to get my food the civilized way, by ordering it in a restaurant.

I didn’t find any furniture I wanted either. I did, however, manage to overpay for some mediocre sushi and teriyaki chicken, so I don’t consider the trip a total loss.

I don’t mind too much when that happens, even though I bitch about it. I just don’t it when it seems like that’s all I’m doing.

The truth is I do like to help people and at the risk of sounding a touch immodest, I’m pretty good at it. I guess it must fill some need of mine to solve puzzles or something.

It’s probably the same reason I like doing Sudoku. I need to get to the end and I need to know the answers. So, I keep looking for them.

Of course, it isn’t all about helping people and finding answers. I also like paying bills, buying cool toys and generally making a living. So, it’s off to the proverbial salt mines I go.

Don’t feel bad for me though. Even if I have experienced a lot of unpleasant things in the past few years, my life is still pretty good. Plus, there’s a whole bunch of people in the world with far bigger problems than I have so when I feel like bitching, I’m often compelled to keep my pie hole shut and just move on.

Obviously, that didn’t happen this week. These were extraordinary circumstances and I needed to get some stuff out. I don’t know if it will happen again but I don’t want this site to have that kind of focus too often.

I want it to be a happy place. Not the happiest place on Earth (I think that’s already taken anyway), but at least a place where people feel it’s okay to stop over for a bit and not get too bummed out. I don’t think that’s too much to ask and I will do my best to achieve it.

I realize at this juncture it’s tempting to thank me. But please, there’s no need. I do it because I care.

On a somewhat related note, keep an eye out for a new project from me and one of my favorite collaborators. It will be announced this week. I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but suffice it to say it’s going to be pretty cool and I’m very proud of how it’s going so far.

Watch this space (and a few other places) for all the details. Until then, I leave you in suspense.

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As sometimes happens, the title of this post has almost nothing to do with the content. My apologies. I will try to do better next time.

I’ve often mentioned here that I seem to have my feet in two different worlds. There’s the world where I go forth and make money to buy the things I think I need, to pay my bills and to save for the child I don’t have yet’s college education.

There’s also the world where I fulfill my creative needs by writing or expressing myself in other ways. I also call this the “real work” world. If you’re a writer, you know what I’m talking about.

Most of the time those two worlds do not converge.

With 2011 winding down and with me being another year older (and presumably wiser), it’s occurred to me that I need to make those two worlds converge more frequently. In other words, how can I make more money doing that which creatively satisfies me?

I realize this is quite the dilemma for so early in the morning (I’m writing this at around 6AM Pacific time) but these are precisely the times when you tend to think about these types of weighty issues. I can’t help it, the thoughts just come to me and they need to be addressed — sleep or other considerations be dammed.

Returning to my point, I need to figure out a way (or ways) to make money doing what I love. I’m sure people out there must have faced a similar situation, so if you’re reading this and feeling inclined to help, chime on in.

Until help comes from unexpected but welcome corners of the Internets, I’ve gone ahead and formulated a plan on my own. Or, at least I’ve got an interim plan until something better comes to mind.

In truth, my plan is relatively simple as it involves doing pretty much what I already do and how I do it. The main difference is in how I will allocate my time during the day and what I will focus on.

For example, under this new plan I will now spend as much time writing something (a short story, script, blog post, etc.) as I do on the Internet. I include time spent on Facebook, Twitter, etc. in that as well. I also do this in hopes of reducing the time I spend reading Twitter, on Facebook or reading mindless blog posts.

Going along with that will be an attempt to “reduce the clutter” of my online information stream. In other words, I will visit fewer sites less frequently and try only to read those sites that feature what I consider to be “good” writing and not attention grabbing link bait disguised as writing.

I will also schedule my day better. I will allocate blocks of time to tasks and only do those tasks during that specific time. Of course, this will have to be somewhat flexible to allow for creative bursts of energy and inspiration so if I’m “on a roll” I don’t have to cut it off to fit a particular schedule.

Going along with that I will also have a definitive cutoff to the day when I won’t, for example, answer emails from clients or deal with other matters that don’t have anything to do with the creative world.

I think the term I’m looking for here is balance. Although, that may not be exactly applicable in this case. I’m not looking for balance, per se, I’m actually looking for a way to spend the vast majority of my time in that second, creative, world.

The best case is that those two worlds converge completely and I spend all of my work time doing those things which make me the happiest. If I could make a few bucks in the process, all the better.

Obviously, I’m still working on the full plan, but I feel pretty good about it so far. At least I’ve mostly identified the problem and are taking some steps to remedy it.

I know I can do better and I know this plan will evolve over time like any good one should. Stay tuned to see how the goes.

But until then, this is what I’ve got. And really, what did you expect at 6AM?

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Note – I’m not sure what the pic above has to do with this particular topic. I just like it, okay?

Other times, I need to look elsewhere for what I need. Today is one of those days. So, to help me move forward and do what I need to do, here’s a little inspiration from my man Steve Jobs.

Whatever you may think of him or Apple, he certainly knows his way around public speaking. We could all hope to be this good at something someday.

Money quote:

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice, heart and intuition.”

Yep. I needed that.

In addition to the podcast, I’ve also started a news site as a companion to the weekly show that’s also been doing pretty well. One thing that had always bothered me about the site, though, was that it looked too much like a blog and not enough like a professional news site should look.

Fortunately, that’s no longer the case because my new favorite web designer, Robert Palmer, has done a kick-ass job and totally redesigned the site to make it look awesome and professional.

This site and podcast are just the start of what I hope will someday be a giant media empire. Meanwhile, if you get a minute, head on over to The Flickcast and check out the new look, read a review or two and listen to some great podcasts.

I feel very privileged to be able to start this new venture and it wouldn’t be possible without some other great people like my podcast co-hosts Matt Raub and Christina Warren, my “web guy” Robert Palmer, site contributors like David Press, John Carle, all the Mahoneys (Sean, Tom, Adele and Heath), some great tools like WordPress and last, but not least, the inspiration, encouragement and help I’ve received from various friends, colleagues and mentors.

Thank you all. I sincerely appreciate it.

Also, if you’ve got any feedback, feel free to drop it in the comments here or at The Flickcast site.

I recently did a piece for CBR about Portland, its creativity and its thriving comic book scene. I found Portland to be inspirational for many reasons, chief of which is the fact that it just feels like a great place to “get things done.” It has many of the big city virtues but still manages to maintain some of the small-town feel and, dare I say it, innocence, so often lacking in other places — like Los Angeles.

When I was there talking to a great many of the people responsible for putting Portland on the map as a creative town and a town where there are lots of talented people producing some great stuff, I also got a sense that something else was just around the corner. That we hadn’t seen everything that was going to happen in Portland and that comics were just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Well, if you take a look at this article in Variety, I guess we now have an idea what that something else might be: Hollywood. Hollywood, it seems, is in love with comic books and wants to make as many comic books into movies as possible. In many ways that’s a good thing. It gives people who work in comics a chance to see their work on the big screen and potentially puts a lot more money in their pockets. It also opens up these stories to a much greater potential audience who may, after discovering the movie they just enjoyed was based on a graphic novel or comic book, go to their local comic book store to check out a few more. They might even end up purchasing some too.

But I wonder if, in the end, this attention will really be good for comics and Portland. My first clue that all may not be perfect in this new relationship is the title of the Variety article. It’s pretty openly condescending to comic book creators, calling them “wannabes.” Of course, that may not be an insult to Hollywood people. After all, doesn’t everyone want to work in the movies?

From experience I know that Hollywood often has a tendency to find that “next big thing,” use it until there’s no more left and then move on to the next thing. Unfortunately, that often leaves quite a bit of destruction in its wake. As someone who likes comics, comic book creators, publishers and Portland, I just hope Hollywood doesn’t do the same to them when its finished squeezing every penny it can.

I hope Hollywood, in its desperation to save a dying business model, bring people into the theaters and sell lots of DVDs, doesn’t end up ruining comics for the rest of us and crushing that last bit of innocence in Portland and comics we could all use a little more of now and again. That would be a shame indeed.