Nation’s happiest man our neighbor

After Gallup determined from calls to 1,000 randomly selected Americans that Hawaii is the happiest state, The New York Times asked Gallup for a statistical composite for the happiest person. The response was that the happiest is a tall, Asian-American man, an observant Jew, at least 65, married with children, lives in Hawaii and makes an income of more than $120,000.

Matching each of those characteristics is 69-year-old Chinese-American Alvin Wong, 5-foot-10, who is a Kosher-observing Jew and runs his own health care management business on Oahu. Contacted by phone, Wong told the Times that his "life philosophy is, if you can’t laugh at yourself, life is going to be pretty terrible for you."

Wong added, "This is a practical joke, right?" 

Homegrown football to tide you over

When you say "Mento" in Hawaii, you’re not talking about a mint that drives bottled cola crazy, although there are similarities. We are describing go-for-broke football. Literally.

"I’m going to play until I break," says 42-year-old David "Mento" Maeva, the former University of Hawaii standout who’s back in pads as a player-coach with the Hawaii Professional Football League’s Kailua Storm.

The league launched its season Friday at Aloha Stadium and ends with a bowl game on April 23. Maeva’s hard-hitting wingman at UH was Michael "Psycho" Tresler. He has a day job as an executive with Kauai’s Grove Farm Company, but what a reunion that would be.