A few years back, a real sweet person volunteered to be my assistant, helping me out when I needed it, and taking some things off my plate.

She is absolutely amazing. But me, Mr. Independent, still tries to do things on his own. Like booking plane tickets.

So, I booked plane tickets for myself, and for the editor of Rabid Doll Bryant Griffin for Comic-Con next week. Our plane leaves Tampa, Fla., just before noon on Wednesday, and lands in Houston. After a short layover, we board another plane, and head straight to Los Angeles.

We then board a small puddle-jumper plane, and make our way to ... Carlsbad. Yeah, Carlsbad, Calif. About 30 miles north of San Diego -- a wonderful distance for someone who is not renting a car.

I booked a hotel right next to the airport (which has it's own head smacking here), except apparently, I booked it for next to the San Diego airport, not the Carlsbad one.

Brilliant, eh? I checked bus schedules ... and we could very well take public transportation from Carlsbad's airport to downtown San Diego. It would just take nearly three hours.

Well, before everyone starts sending emails to me offering to help, it looks like we will get a ride. Lucky me, our creative director, Shane Churchman, happens to live in that area. And hopefully he can break away from everything else he's doing to rescue us from Carlsbad and bring us into San Diego. If not, I'm sure I will get to really enjoy mass transit in Southern California.

I have never felt so busy in the days leading up to Comic-Con in my life. I am writing this column a day late because I've been trying to finish up the first Alpha Waves Radio show that has been created in seven months. We're moving the show to TrekRadio, an online Star Trek radio station manned by fans for fans. I'm actually quite excited about it, and even more excited because we'll be welcoming "Warehouse 13" star Eddie McClintock.

There will be some changes to the show. But nothing too major. I've added about three minutes of commercial space, or should I say, space where we hope some day commercials will live. I know that when some people hear them, they might be mad ... but I am asking in advance that you not be mad.

TrekRadio is not cheap to maintain, and I think we should do everything we can to help support the station. That's a lot of bandwidth to be putting out 24 hours a day, and it needs to be done. Sure, we would get a cut of the revenue, too, but that would increase my hourly wage earned on the show from $0.00 an hour to $0.25 an hour. Is that minimum wage in Florida? I'm not sure.

We also are adding some more "professionalism." OK, as much professionalism as someone like me can muster. As you know, I'm always trying to improve the show, and while the best improvement would be removing me as host, I've already tried that, and it doesn't work. Instead, you're going to be hearing a little more of an aspiring actor named Dan Taylor.

I can't even remember how I met this guy, but you know me. I recognize talent when I see it. I have yet to see his acting skills, but he has an amazing voice, and a great look. He's working his way up the ladder, and I think he will have an amazing future doing something that we'll all be talking about.

But for now, he will be the almost nameless voice on Alpha Waves Radio. And that's pretty darn cool. So, welcome aboard, Dan!

We also have some new writers and some new columnists coming on board. One we'll officially announce in the next couple weeks, but I can tease him a bit now. Richard Lee Byers, a popular science-fiction author who I greatly admire, is going to be writing a monthly column for Airlock Alpha beginning next month. He is a good friend of Ann Morris, a woman I have really enjoyed and respected over the year -- and have enjoyed even more as a columnist for the site -- and who I know many of you enjoy as well.

So, I can't wait to see what Mr. Byers brings to the table. If you'd like to see more about his work -- the kind he actually gets paid for -- check out his site at RichardLeeByers.com.

And by the way, Alpha Waves Radio will return this Thursday, July 21, at 8 p.m. ET, with an encore at 11 p.m. ET, only on TrekRadio.net. We are in the process of adding a player for TrekRadio on Airlock Alpha, and we will eventually have the shows available on iTunes as well (we're working on that right now). But iTunes won't have our show until the Saturday after ... so why wait? Listen every Thursday for either a new show or a classic Alpha Waves show on TrekRadio!

Oh, and I'll see you in Carlsbad ... er, San Diego, this week!