With the news being dominated by the latest reports on the Boston bombing and suspects manhunt, you may want to read something to take your mind off the awful events of this past week. In times like this, you might even wish you could live on another planet or in a capsule isolated from earthly disasters and tragedies.

As I mentioned in my last post about Henk Rogers, there's an experimental living project happening on the Big Island that just started on Monday. A crew of six hand-picked volunteers are spending the next four months in a faux space capsule on Mauna Loa to simulate living on Mars. The main focus is to test different foods since eating the same prepackaged rations could get pretty monotonous, especially when you're cooped up in confined quarters for a lengthy period.

Anyhow, here's a link to one of the first dispatches that appeared in The Economist. Why isn't our own local news media covering this story?

You can also find out more about the project by going to the HI-SEAS website and following their blogs and Tweets.

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For daily viewing times of the Career Changers TV show, please visit our website or check out video segments on the CCTV YouTube Channel. Have a good weekend... and take a break from the news if you're feeling depressed.

Above: Henk Rogers, founder of The Tetris Company, Blue Planet Foundation, and the new Blue Startups accelerator project.

I wear a lot of hats between my roles as Career Changers TV producer, writer, and member of the 808HALT coalition to put a stop to human trafficking in Hawaii. But one common theme keeps coming up during my interviews and meetings: the need for immigration reform. Earlier this week we filmed a segment with Henk Rogers, the man who turned Tetris into a multifaceted business/social change empire based in Downtown Honolulu. He didn't invent the addictive puzzle game, but after he got the licensing rights and established a relationship with the Russian creator of Tetris, Henk was able to grow it exponentially as handheld game players and mobile wireless platforms came into being. One article I read describes him as a self-made billionaire.

He's also an alien of sorts: Dutch-Indonesian, born in Holland, moved to New York with his family when he was 11, studied computer science at the University of Hawaii in the 1970s (funny stories about his jobs back then, including driving for Charley's Taxi) and moved to Japan because that's where the action was in the early days of video games. Suffice it to say, he could live and work anywhere he wants. So why Hawaii? In part, it's because of our diversity and location as a crossroads of the Pacific. He's a global kind of guy. Actually, he thinks much bigger than that. One of his major missions in life is to promote space exploration -- and settlement of Mars as a starting point for transforming other worlds into places where humans can live. In effect, we'd become the aliens.

You may not be aware of HI-SEAS, which stands for Hawaii Space Exploration Analog & Simulation, but he told me that on April 15 they will be launching a 4-month long project on the Big Island to test foods that could be consumed in space. Awhile back they advertised for qualified volunteers, who were willing to simulate living on Mars during that period. I'm not fully up to speed on the details, but from what Henk explained, they will be living in close quarters (a faux space capsule) and have to wear space suits if they venture out. Mauna Loa was chosen because the terrain is similar to Mars. Beginning Monday, you can follow the project on Twitter.

There's so much more I could tell you about how that project fits into Henk's other missions -- like Tetris blocks, in a way -- and how a heart attack in 2005 was the impetus for him to start the Blue Planet Foundation here in Hawaii. Coincidentally, I recently blogged that many successful entrepreneurs I know of have had near-death experiences that caused them to reassess their "purpose" in life. As it happens, his goal of reducing our dependence on oil and eliminating carbon emissions, also aligns with segments we just produced about Pacific Biodiesel (currently airing on the April episode of Career Changers TV -- click here for viewing times).

One of the tangents we went off on involved immigration policies. Since he's in the high tech field, it's no surprise he -- along with scores of business leaders/job creators -- sees a need to allow more high-skilled foreign workers to come and stay in the U.S. because there is a shortage of Americans with those kind of math and science skills. Seems hard to believe, huh? Yet I've heard that same complaint from other CEOs on "60 Minutes" and read it in a few business mags.

However, Henk was also referring to the need for low-skilled immigrant workers because he's a proponent of sustainable agriculture. And he recognizes the fact that for all the talk about supporting local farms, the reality is we need to import laborers from other countries since there aren't a lot of Americans who are willing to do back-breaking work for the kind of wages that are currently being paid. He mentioned that as a result of his heart attack, he bought a ranch on the Big Island where he could get away and relax. He's also trying to do sustainable farming on the property, so he's witnessed first hand the difficulty of finding local labor for ag work.

In future posts, I'll tell you more about the interview with Henk and the new Blue Startups accelerator program he's backing for a mix of homegrown and imported entrepreneurs, who are now working out of his Harbor Court offices. Very cool stuff going on up there!

It's not your typical business environment. There's art work by Roger Dean, the guy who did the Yes album covers and original Virgin Records Twins logo -- which ties into Henk's story about a gift he recently gave to Richard Branson (just noticed in the lower left corner of the photo at top, you can see Branson posing with him). Of course there's a Tetris motif running throughout the entire place, including stuff like these stackable seat cushions. We'll begin airing the Henk Rogers and Blue Startups segments in May, so stay tuned for details.

WEEKEND FESTIVAL ALERT

Regarding the 808HALT human trafficking project (here's that link), one of the coalition partners is inviting the public to attend the Burmese Water Festival this Sun., April 14 from 9 AM until 2 PM at Wilson Elementary School, 4945 Kilauea Avenue. It's sponsored by the Myanmar Association of Hawaii and Pacific Gateway Center. There will be authentic Burmese food, "Water Throwing," and other treats for you to experience and enjoy.

It's just another reminder of how our wonderful mix of cultures and people makes Hawaii such a special place... even if many of us might be considered "aliens" by others. When you look at it from Henk's universal perspective, we're all just citizens of one Blue Planet. BTW, there's an interesting story behind the Burning Man Festival hat he's wearing in the picture that I'll share some other time!

Program Alert: The new April episode of Career Changers TV will premiere around 6 PM Sat. night, April 6, instead of its regular 8:30 PM time slot because of OIA baseball. Time is approximate since my show will be sandwiched between two games. However, you can DVR it at the regularly scheduled week day times, which are listed at www.CareerChangers.TV.

The photo above is what prompted me to do a two part feature on Pacific Biodiesel, our lead story in the April show. During the big APEC event in November 2011, I was visiting the scientific/technology expo at the Convention Center and saw PB's display. In addition to the sunflowers photo, there were samples of oil seed crops and used cooking oil that had been converted to biofuel. I got to talking with Beth Mathias, their director of marketing and sales, who told me how they started in Maui and were now growing test crops on Oahu and building new plants on the mainland, Japan and the Big Island.

My first thought was, wow, I'd love to film those sunflowers in bloom for widescreen high definition television! The biodiesel plant on Sand Island sounded like it could provide good visuals too. One of the challenges of producing a low budget local TV show about business and career stuff is that many of the stories are predominantly composed of talking heads in office settings. So I try to find interesting locations where we can shoot our introductions, and if possible, get a story out of that place. We did our April intros at Waimea Valley, and that turned into three separate pieces, which are included in the new show. (You can see the small screen low res versions on the CCTV YouTube Channel by clicking here -- looks way better on real TV though!)

Pacific Biodiesel was growing camelina when we filmed, in part, because there was a problem with sunflowers: birds love to eat the seeds. And it's the seeds that are crushed for their oil. What's interesting about the project is the connection to the military. They provided funding because biofuel could be used in an emergency if our oil supplies were cut off. PB can plant, harvest and convert biodiesel within a hundred to 120 days. Besides that benefit, the seed cake byproduct is high in protein and can be good feed for livestock, so it has added profit potential for local farmers.

Speaking of the power of images to get the public's interest, here's a shot of a celeb who needs no introduction. PB started out recycling cooking oil waste next to a Maui landfill... and now famous entertainers like Willie Nelson, Jack Johnson and Woody Harrelson have endorsed their community-based model.

They also recently went online with their Big Island Biodiesel plant, which cost about $15 million to build. This is homegrown, sustainable business at its best.

Next post: more about Waimea Valley and how they have turned around the business end by focusing on Native Hawaiian culture. It's a great example of sustainable tourism -- and in the process, they're bringing back more local residents to this island treasure.

Lately, I've been thinking about the meaning of work in our lives -- or more precisely, what it means to be "happy" in our job or careers. Would you say you're happy or "satisfied" with your current position? Miserable? Want to quit, but can't afford to?

Through my Career Changers TV show, I've met a lot of people who are happy with their careers and love what they do. But in everyday life, I encounter many employees who do their jobs as if they were brain-dead zombies, just clocking in to get a paycheck. The fact is, most of us at some point in our lives, have had to do work we weren't crazy about. Some rise to the challenge and make the most of bad situations. Others, like the hostess at a Kailua restaurant my wife and I had lunch at recently, act so indifferently that you wish you could fire them on the spot. Since we didn't see anyone who appeared to be in charge that I could complain to, I thought about posting a negative review on Yelp, then decided it wasn't worth my time. We just won't go back. I'm pretty sure we weren't alone in that sentiment, judging from the looks on the faces of other customers around us.

While I was brushing encrusted food off the dirty menu in this mediocre Mexican restaurant, I told my wife about a young lady who works in the parking garage booth at Alii Place. I park there whenever I have meetings or TV shoots at Remington College, which is one of my show sponsors. This particular booth attendant always greets every exiting customer with a smile and small pleasantry. She just makes me feel... happy. Let's be honest though: being confined to a small booth all day, handing out change and pressing a button to lift a gate is not the most exciting occupation in the world. Yet this worker actually seems to enjoy her job.

Even if you have to fake liking your work, by making others you deal with feel positive, the task becomes more bearable. Giving off good vibes is contagious. Conversely, employees like the Mexican zombie hostess with the glum face -- mind you, she was the one who "greets" customers -- put us in a sour mood from the moment we sat down. And yes, it affected the tip we left, which is presumably shared with the staff.

Sorry for the digression. Anyhow, there's a key difference between people who go after their dream jobs and slackers who live in a fantasy world where they are paid to do minimal work in a "fun" environment. Those who are living their dream have a clear idea of what they wanted to do from the start... even if they weren't quite sure how they would get to that point. They are the ones who say "yes" to opportunities they believe will get them closer to their goals, regardless of whether there is an immediate payoff or not. Many times those opportunities don't go according to plan. Most successful entrepreneurs have had a few busts along the way. But they adapt and keep going forward instead of dwelling on their mistakes. They are not in the habit of blaming others when things don't pan out.

When I hear younger people or students talk about their future goals, the themes that come up most are generally about making big money, having a glamorous lifestyle, or you know, doing fun stuff for pay -- music, fashion, night clubs/party business, the TV or movie industry. The truth is it takes a great deal of hard work and focus to succeed in those "fantasy job" worlds, and it takes the same qualities you find in people who give their best effort in whatever they do -- whether it's part-time restaurant work or full-time student. Creative types will find inspiration in mundane job situations... they will write stories, songs or movie scripts about soul-sucking jobs and terrible bosses. They punch in every day and do the tedious work that goes into writing or making art. Put an inventor in a "boring" job and they will get excited about possible solutions to a vexing problem they might come across that others just ignore. It will take them hours, days, months, tweaking and perfecting their "simple" product before it ever hits the market place. In short, the difference between attaining your dream job and fantasizing about it is attitude.

However, there is a higher ideal we should strive for in our career choices, which I'll get to in my next blog post. It's about finding meaning in whatever work we do, and the value of enduring difficult times.  Too often we talk about wanting to be "happy" when we really should look at happiness as a byproduct of living a good life.

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For daily viewing times of my show, please visit www.CareerChangers.TV. You can also watch video segments from past and current episodes on the CCTV YouTube Channel.

Program Alert: The new January episode of Career Changers TV premieres Sat., Jan. 5 at 8:30 PM on OC16. Visit www.CareerChangers.TV for more info on who's featured in this month's show!

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It was the week before Christmas, and I was walking around Ward Warehouse prior to filming a new segment about the Hawaii Fashion Incubator, which is located on the second floor there, when I heard Mark Bell call me over to his kiosk. We've had Mark on the show a couple of times to talk about some of his inventions and product discoveries he found on the Mainland (like the motorized scooter cooler).

At first, I wasn't sure what his latest invention was... they were small silicone widgets that came in a variety of colors and sizes, next to more recognizable button-sized things that I was told kids like to plug into those Crocs. They're called Jibbitz, and the woman who came up with that idea made millions when Crocs bought her out.

Mark's product is similar. His silicone connectors fit on the tips of shoelaces and drawstrings, so that the wearer can customize their footwear or hoodies, sweatpants, whatever. Then the wearer can attach one of those Jibbitz or other accessories like fake gems to make a personal fashion statement. It's such a simple idea, you wonder why no one has done it before. In fact, a major shoe manufacturer whose name I can't reveal just yet, jumped on it when Mark introduced himself at a trade show. After they reviewed it and asked for a couple of modifications, they placed an order for a MILLION of these little connectors...  a month, that is -- for 12 months! They cost pennies apiece, but 12 million units adds up to a pretty big amount.

What's interesting to me is Mark didn't set out to make something for shoestrings. A friend of his son, who is in college, asked Mark to come up with a better earplug that could be easily used when things got noisy around the dorm or in public areas. (Sure, you could carry around a pair of earplugs, but I guess college kids can't think that far ahead.) So Mark thought incorporating earplugs into the ends of drawstrings might work since lots of kids wear hoodies. But someone had already come up with earphones that are built into hoodies. That's when Mark looked down at his feet and realized there was an even better use for his silicone tip connectors... sneaker laces. In entrepreneur speak, it's called The Pivot -- when you realize the original idea needs to be adjusted or there should be a change in focus and direction.

I had no idea the Crocs Jibbitz thing was so big until Mark told me about it. But every person I mentioned his invention to seemed to know about those Jibbitz. Yet none of them ever thought about applying the same concept to other types of footwear with laces, which far outnumber Crocs in sales. Heck, imagine the possibility of connecting sneaker laces to sports team logos and personalized buttons of every shape, color and style. Don't be surprised if the shoe manufacturer who placed the million per month order decides to buy out Mark for tens of millions of dollars, like the Croc Jibbitz lady.

Mark still is toying around with the name. One of the reasons he set up the kiosk at Ward Warehouse during the Christmas shopping season was to test market that product and other things he's selling in Hawaii (more on that to follow). This is what separates real inventors and entrepreneurs from the wannabes. They put in long hours testing products, talking to actual consumers, tweaking the product and refining the marketing approach. Names are important in the marketplace to create branding and word of mouth. When I last spoke to him, Mark was leaning towards "Tipz" for his patent-pending connectors. I think that works.

Every inventor dreams of that home run idea. I asked Mark if this is The Big One. He smiled and nodded. So what's your million dollar idea?