Regular Joe: More Wheeler Than Dealer

See, there’s this guy on the old Ferris wheel at the Orange County Fair. He’s there right now; Jeff Block’s his name. The guy hardly ever gets off the wheel, except for attending to the necessities.

Anyway, guy says he’s going to set a new world record for Ferris wheel living, 38 days, timed to coincide with the close of the fair on July 25. And keep in mind that the guy already shares the world record, which is 37 days, a feat he accomplished in 1978 when he had too much time on his hands.

(Rena Clark is the other record-holder. She answered the same newspaper ad and rode the same Ferris wheel in San Jose that the then-unemployed Jeff did.)

So the guy is 36 now. He’s got a good solid job as a custodian at Fullerton College. He and his girlfriend have been living together in Tustin for eight years, and it’s love.

What I’m saying here is that everything seems to be going pretty well for our guy Jeff. He’s happy, he says. Although due to the fact that Jeff is not prone to obvious displays like jumping up and down or slapping his knees (especially on a Ferris wheel) you would have to ask him about his mental state directly.

(But, come to think of it, the guy does have the strangest laugh. It’s sort of this high-pitched trill, like I’m thinking an ostrich might sound if you told it a really good joke.)

At any rate, Jeff is not one to ponder deep thoughts for the public record about the significance of riding a Ferris wheel for more than a month in the year of our Lord 1993, the 100th anniversary of the Ferris wheel. (Hey, why not ride the thing for 100 days?)

“I’m just your average Joe,� Jeff says. “I’m just doing something unusual. I’m just thinking of this as a vacation.�

Right. I know what you’re thinking. The guy is obviously nuts . I mean, that’s what I thought when I went to see him earlier this week.

And now I know it for sure:

Jeff says he turned down an offer of $100,000 from another California amusement park to ride their Ferris wheel instead.

(Although he did allow two executive types to take him to lunch to talk up the deal. . . . Jeff, Jeff, Jeff. . . . You gotta watch those slippery slopes.)

Anyway, Jeff says he turned down the 100 grand because he wanted to stay local. This way his girlfriend--who to put it mildly, is not thrilled with his endeavor--can visit him, not to mention do his laundry. And, besides, he says, he’s not in this for the money.

The Orange County Fair is paying him $100 a day (in keeping with the centennial theme) plus expenses. Jeff figures it will all add up to a net loss of about $2,000 if you figure in the unpaid leave from his job.

This does not include the other deals he has nixed (potential cash value: $50,000 to $100,000), including those from athletic shoe manufacturers who wanted our guy to wear their brand on his feet. (Jeff wears Converse because he likes them! And they only cost him 40 bucks.)

“So what does your girlfriend think about you turning down all that money?� I ask as Jeff and I are taking a twirl.

“She doesn’t know,� he says.

“Oh,� say I.

Anyway, this will give you an idea about what kind of guy we’re talking about here. Bold. Not Afraid To Take a Stand. Uncompromised. A Fool.

Kidding! Kidding! A guy wants to snub his nose at $100,000, then go ahead and ride a Ferris wheel for 38 days, in the heat, in front of a crowd, and forever doom himself to employment questions about just what he did when he took that unpaid leave, hey, that’s his business.

And, besides, this Jeff guy kind of grows on you. So he’s a nut. But he’s a nice nut.

For example, he told me that he was definitely not carrying an Uzi in his bag of goodies. He does, however, have a police scanner (just because) and a TV (go figure) and a cellular phone (great for media chats/negotiations) and 21 mostly unread books (autobiographies and true crime.)

Oh, and Jeff says that he’s a private person. So what if he’s been featured in more media than you can shake a stick at? He has his principles. And he says The “John and Leeza Show� really tested them the other day.

Says the production team wanted to wire him up like a monkey, says that they got bossy, says that he was so annoyed at the whole fiasco that he almost walked off the wheel for good!

(According to the rules, Jeff earns five minutes for every hour he’s on the Ferris wheel, and that includes motionless time too. Plus, he can save this time up.

(Also, for the record, none of this is being counted by the Guinness Book of World Records, seeing as how The Book stopped recording endurance records a few years ago.

(Apparently this had to do with some messy lawsuits along the lines of, “Your honor, my client was acting in good faith when he wore a clothespin over his nose for six weeks in an attempt to break the world record, and now Guinness must compensate him for the severe emotional distress that he suffered as a result.�)

But back to John and Leeza. Our guy got a grip and stayed on the wheel, although he says the experience was definitely a low point. He’s hoping it will be smooth from here on out. It should be noted, however, that the real test hasn’t come yet: The fair doesn’t open to the public until July 9.

Except some things are not expected to change. Like what’s been the No. 1 question on everybody’s lips so far? You got it: How do you go to the bathroom?

“Happy Jack� Jackson, the retired carny lured out of retirement to set up this old-fangled 1949 Ferris wheel on which Jeff is ensconced, gives it to them straight.

“Ah, we Pamper ‘em,� he says. “We got a box of Pampers and so we just Pamper him up every now and then.�

Kidding! Kidding! The answer is Jeff goes just like everybody else. Because, remember, he’s just an average Joe.

Yeah, right.