Jonathan Block

Getting up on Saturday morning at 3:30AM is one of the hardest things in the world to do. I should have made it the last thing on my list. Matt was visiting during this mission and so he became part of the fun. We both were up and getting ready by 3:45 AM on Saturday morning. We were on the road within 20 minutes heading all the way up to Windsor. That would usually take a really long time, but when you travel at 4AM on a Saturday morning, there really aren’t any other cars on the road. We estimate the trip is going to take us 2 hours but it only takes us 1 hour and 40 minutes even though we stop at a McDonalds for a couple of Egg McMuffins.

Our directions instruct us to wait in the parking lot for a big white van to arrive. As we wait, we are tired and feel like zombies. Other cars pull up and it’s obvious we’re the only two people who are there that aren’t a couple. Maybe I should have done this one with a hot girl as our date.

We meet the pilot. He releases a helium balloon into the air and watches it as it changes direction while rising into the sky. He herds us all into his van, and we ride to the appropriate take off area based on the current weather patters: Sonoma County Airport.

After arriving, the pilot’s crew helps to unfold and position the deflated balloon on tarps which have been laid out on the grass. The pilot asks Matt and I to help by holding the opening in the balloon open and then he fires up a gas powered fan which begins to slowly inflate the balloon. For the next 20 minutes, the crew begins to prepare the balloon as it slowly inflates with cold air. The basket is unloaded from the truck and the pilot drags it close to where I’m standing and while I’m looking into the distance, I feel the heat from the first blast of fire into the opening of the balloon. It startles me. The grounds crew is finished with the preparation and the pilot now continues to add more heat which causes the balloon to begin to rise. Soon after, the time comes for us to get into the basket for takeoff.

There are 3 sections in our basket that help keep the different sets of passengers segmented from each other. It must help prevent bumping into other passengers during landings. Matt and I share a small area with two other people. I think there are 9 total in our basket including the pilot.

The pilot begins the takeoff sequence which is very slow and gentle. He happens to be an expert in making jokes on takeoff. He utters to himself just loud enough that we can hear… “Wait a minute you’re supposed to push this and it goes up, right?” He reaches for a rope hanging from somewhere up in the balloon and as he beings to pull it he utters, “What’s this thing do?”

Slow and gentle describes the entire experience of ballooning that follows. As we begin to float up, we are almost unable to feel any feeling of motion. The only thing which is quite obvious is that we’re rising. Our perspective of the surroundings begins to change and a beautiful view begins to unveil. Our perspective of the horizon begins to change and we can suddenly see for many miles - perhaps 100 miles away.

During the flight, the pilot held our balloon at a very low altitude. I think it was between 300 and 600 feet. We flew like this for about 30-45 minutes. We flew over mostly farms and farm houses. We saw vineyards, trees, horses grazing, and other balloons that had also taken off from our launch site.

About half way through the flight, the pilot changes altitude by heating up the balloon temperature. We rise to around 1000+ feet and for a moment, we feel a breeze. In a hot air balloon, it seems to rarely be breezy because you are floating with the wind. You seem to only experience a breeze when you are changing from one wind current to another. The wind current that we enter causes the balloon to start floating back in the direction of the airport.

We float by the two runways of Sonoma County Airport. We fly over historic aircrafts on display, small private 2 seaters and small jets. Our pilot finds a perfectly flat grassy area and we touch down. He pulls on some ropes that were suspended inside the balloon which actually release the top of the balloon’s roof. That seems to let the hottest air out very quickly and the balloon falls to the side and begins to droop. We get out and it takes about 30 more minutes while we help the crew help deflate and pack up the balloon.

It’s a tradition in ballooning to drink a glass of champaign at the conclusion of a flight. The passengers all meet at a brunch restaurant and we’re each given a half glass of champaign. The pilot recites a customary balloonist toast before we sip:

The winds have welcomed you with softness
The sun has blessed you with warm hands
You have flown so high and so well
That God had joined you in your laughter
and set you gently back into the loving arms of mother earth.

Yes, Matt… you are not a hot date but you were a great passenger on my mission #6.

I just had an idea to have matt take my picture for a few angles to produce the 3d jiggle effect. Check it out!

This week, Matt has the pleasure of joining me for Mission #6: a hot air balloon ride! I expect to get some quality photos from Matt’s bad ass camera. Oh and in the attached photo, Matt’s Dorothy.

Saturday, I get up at the crack of dawn to drive to Linda Mar Beach in Pacifica. I had registered for the surfing classes earlier in the week, and have the general location of where my surfing for beginners class will begin on a printed set of directions. I arrive and spend a while trying to find the actual spot that the class will start. After signing a waiver promising not to sue if I get hurt, I pick up a smokin’ hot wet suit and booties and I’m off to the bathroom to change.

When I return, we each grab a surf board and head out to the beach. There are about 15 students and 4 instructors. For about 45 minutes, we learn about the absolute basics of surfing including timing waves, how to pop up, how surfers choose who gets what waves, how to paddle around. We spend a lot of time on the beach just practicing the pop-up maneuver required to stand quickly on your feet. Soon after, we’re ready to jump in and try out what we learned.

The ocean water is freezing. There’s no way in hell anybody would swim in that water with just a bathing suit. I’m nervous at what its going to feel like when I actually enter the water with my board. As I enter, I mentally brace for the worst. It’s cold, but not so cold that I am freezing. I’m amazed at how well the wet suit repels the freezing water temperature . It’s just at that comfort point where I can *almost* not pay attention to the temperature of the water, although it does make my hands hurt.

I spend the next 2 hours in the water paddling around on my surfboard and practicing what I’ve learned on 2-4 foot waves. Suprisingly, I am able to stand up almost 5 times (depending on what you call standing up). Most of the times I got up, I was really totally out of control but standing nonetheless. Noontime arrives, and the class ends. We return all of the gear, and I’m off to my weekly volleyball game.

Sunday, same deal. I’m out at the beach this time again by 9AM, only this week, my friend Josh is there to meet me and take the class. He’s got some experience surfing so he’s impatient during the instructional portion of the morning. When we get into the ocean, the water seems colder than yesterday, and we’re in a more difficult area where the waves are a little bigger. I have a lot of trouble getting out because I don’t do a good job of padding out where the waves are small. Instead, I seem to spend most, if not all, of my energy trying to paddle out into waves that only toss me back to shore.

After 45 minutes, our instructors move the whole “class” of students down the beach to an area where it will be easier for us. With my energy drained arms, I’m able to continue paddling and making wave attempts for another half hour. Finally, I give out from exhaustion and have to take a rest.

As the class ends, I take note of where the local place is to rent gear for the next time I decide to come back and just surf. Board rentals are only $15 for the day if you can get them back by 5PM. I thought this one would be easier since I snowboard, but I underestimated surfing’s difficulty. I’ll definitely do it again especially if I’m in warmer waters.

Surf’s up, baby! Surfing is popular out here. Even before I moved to Cali, a former roommate would go to the Cape every weekend to surf. He’d even to go Costa Rica each year with his friend to hit the waves down there. Now I figure that my snowboarding skills will get me through a surfing experience, but only time will tell. This challenge is to ride a wave on a surfboard by next Tuesday.

I decide to sign up for a motorcycles training course. I find one in South San Francisco that teaches all of the skills, required by the State of California, in order to be qualified for a motorcycle license. It’s a 15 hour course. 5 hours of classroom, and 10 hours of riding “on the range.”

Thursday, I jump out of work a little early around 4:30PM to get into South San Francisco for the 5 hour class which starts at 5:30 sharp. I roll up to an old campus with a building that has a sign on it which reads “South San Francisco Adult Education.” This could be one of the most deserted loneliest looking educational campuses I’ve ever seen. I hope it doesn’t always look so empty - like a ghost town. I’m looking for room #48.

When I go through the door, I see about 8 rows of chairs each with a simple table in front of them all facing a man who sits at the head of the classroom facing the students. I sign in and choose a partner at his direction. We are handed our reading material and the class begins. I snap a quick photo looking straight ahead when nobody is looking. The format is one in which each group is given a few questions from a chapter and after the questions are assigned, you and your parter must answer them within a few minutes. After a few minutes, we go through each of the questions and each pair of students reads their answer aloud from the reading materials. After that, we go to a DVD segment in which professional motorcycle instructors review the questions from that chapter by showing us how something works such as motorcycle controls or traffic rules. After 5 hours of classroom and 4 breaks, we’re dismissed and told not to be late for Saturday’s range training.

Saturday, the course beings at 12:45. I arrive at the range exactly on time to sign in. I sign in with the range instructors and choose a helmet to borrow from the ones that are available. Eventually, we are asked to each pick a motorcycle. There are a dozen to choose from. Most are black. I pick the only red motorcycle from the bunch and use a dry erase marker to write my name on a white white board attached to the front so the instructors may call us by name while riding. We start with the absolute basics. We cover an array of concepts including basic operation, getting into gear, shifting, braking, turning, swerving, u-turning, and more. By the end of the first day, I’m exhausted. The weather is cold and the winds are at least 30 MPH which means even if I’m standing on my feet, I’m tripping over myself.

Sunday, I’m there on time again and we begin more advanced concepts. We cover stuff like riding over obstacles such as speed bumps and debris, advanced cornering, coming to a controlled stop in a hurry, changing lanes and more. After another 5 hours, we are finally at the conclusion of the training. Then we go into the final test. We must show we’ve mastered each of 4 basic skills in order to get our certificate of completion. I score flawlessly in my tight u-turn, and flawlessly in my 15 MPH right swerve. I do okay in my emergency breaking test, and okay in my cornering test.

In the end, I pass the test and am awarded a certificate of completion. I may now use this card at the California Registry of Motor Vehicles in order to upgrade my license to include motorcycle operation. When I go, I will not need to take a driving test. I will only need to pass the written test. I think I’ll do it during lunch this week in Redwood City!

For the last 8 months, I have been working to help build out the MyPrivacy product at ReputationDefender.com. We’ve had more coverage than I’ve ever heard of any small company getting. It’s been incredible. Since joining, we’ve been the lead story on the front page of Yahoo, MSN, and Wired.com. We’ve even been on both of my two favorite shows: 20/20 on ABC as well as The Today Show on NBC. The list is much longer than this - you can check out our press coverage page for a longer list. Some time last week, a photographer was in and took a photo of our CEO and I while I was explaining something to him about the project and now the picture is in The Silicon Valley Business Journal. Here’s the front page, and the story page with my photo. Here’s the link directly to the online version fo the story.

As a side note, MyPrivacy will check for your personal information in what is currently a list of 30 different online databases. We’ll show you all of the information that is being listed about you. In the results, you’ll find some combination of your name, all of the places you’ve ever lived, all of the phone numbers you’ve ever had including your current cell number, and the names and locations of all of your family members. Next to each of the results is a “remove” button which submits a removal request through our automated process.

If any of my friends or family would like to try MyPrivacy for free, you can get 1 month of free service with my friends and family code “JBROCKS”.

Can’t wait till we see the Red Sox together!