The Captain is no doubt going to regret teaching me how to use the camera's video feature...

My older nephew is taking golf lessons. I'm sure this is how Tiger Woods got his start:



Speaking of the galaxy's greatest golfer, I got so busy at the Open I never posted details from my week as press conference moderator.

After two uneventful interviews the first day, I tackled 10 press conferences on Tuesday, including perhaps the most recognizable athlete in the world. After introducing myself, we had a few minutes for small talk prior to the start of the press conference.









To my surprise, I was nowhere near as nervous as I expected to be. Perhaps it was because I didn't have much time to think about it, or because things had gone well to that point, buiding my confidence. But after some quick introductory words, I turned the session over to the media, who took it from there.

The crowd in the room swelled to several hundred media members, which was quite a crowd...











I spent most of the 30-minute press conference calling on media members and listening to Tiger deftly and thoughtfully answer all questions. But my mind would wander every once in a while. I can't say exactly what I'm thinking here but I'm sure it was humorous or inappropriate...









(In that photo, if you enlarge it and look real close, you can see the burn mark next to my eye, the result of poor curling iron management. Super smooth, that's me.)

A few of my other favorites from that day...a young Irish standout named Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia, who was the only one of the golfers who pulled out my chair for me. Spanish gentlemen do know how to treat the ladies.

The following morning, Phil Mickelson came in for his press conference. Mickelson, always the object of great deal of media attention, was of even more interest than usual given the recent announcement that his wife has breast cancer. Knowing the interview was being aired live on SportsCenter, I found myself far more nervous than I had been for Tiger's press conference (although that one also aired live on ESPN and the Golf Channel).

My sister-in-law later reported that the crazies had assembled to watch the press conference live and were quite impressed to see me on television. My oldest nephew inquired as to "why does her voice sound so funny?" to which my sister-in-law replied, "she's probably really nervous." Indeed she was.



But that was uneventful as well and with the pre-championship press conferences out of the way shortly thereafter, it was finally time to play golf. Several incredibly rainy days ensued which really screwed with the schedule. I had limited opportunities to interview players after rounds but when I did, things went pretty well...

I didn't get to spend much time on the golf course. My friend Ellie and I snuck out for a little while Sunday, which gave our friend John the opportunity to capture this shot of the two of us giggling about lord knows what as Phil walked by...











And then, it was like time sped forward and things were over before I knew it. By and large, I really enjoyed it. I learned I am a better public speaker than I thought, and that I can speak live on television and be the center of attention in front of hundreds of people without passing out or vomiting. I only needed a handful of Tums throughout the week and was able to eat normally (although I did eat a very light breakfast the morning of Phil's press conference).

So I would welcome the opportunity to do it again next year, particularly given that the Open is at Pebble Beach. Golf courses don't get much nicer than that...

I took off Friday, a well-earned vacation day after a hectic week at the Open. The Captain had the day off as well so we decided to spend the afternoon on his boat, a small but seaworthy aluminum vessel called the Tin Tin.

We took a leisurely ride down the Shrewsbury River, at one point encountering one of the infamous river dolphins, swimming with a baby dolphin. From there it was on to KC and Nicole's abode in Sea Bright, where KC decided to join us for the afternoon. It didn't take long for KC to bag a keeper river fluke...










We returned to KC's, where the other order of the day was the 24-hour preparation of a pork butt in a smoker for a barbecue on Saturday. The smoker was set up outside their house, uncovered. That seemed fine at the time, but trouble was brewing...

After lounging around enjoying some late afternoon beers, the Captain headed to the water's edge to filet the day's catch.










While there, the sky started to look somewhat ominous. Within minutes, it turned downright nasty...

Thanks to my new digital camera (and the Captain, who not only helped me pick the camera but also thankfully knows how to operate it), we were able to capture some great videos of the storm.

First, the clouds roll in...



In part 2, the wind really picks up, the Captain and KC discuss the potential fate of Tin Tin and the smoker, and KC makes a run to save the smoking pork...



And in the third part, heavy rain pounds the house. KC does a lot of shouting while attempting to salvage the smoker below while the Captain and I huddle in a corner on the upper deck...



The storm passed quickly, allowing us to run down to the water to batten down the hatches on Tin Tin before the arrival of the storm's second round, which featured an incredible amount of lightning. And then the skies started to clear, giving way to one of the most breaktaking sunsets I have ever seen.





































As we stood overlooking the river, taking in the sunset, we suddenly realized the real show was going on behind us, as a full rainbow filled the sky over the ocean...



Finally, with the worst of the storm having passed over us and darkness starting to fall, the Captain and I decided we needed to get Tin Tin home. We removed as much water as we could from the bottom of the boat and set off on our way...










As we rode, the spider lightning continued to fill the sky. It did help light our way home but was also a bit unsettling, knowing we were in an aluminum boat, surrounded by water.

Despite this, as I watched the Captain expertly maneuver the craft the 20 minutes home, I thought, if this was going to be how my time among the living was going to end, I couldn't have asked for a better day on which to go out...





























Very, very good times...

The death of Michael Jackson is a tough one. His music and dancing provided a backdrop for my early teen years - in fact, where I was when I first saw the Thriller video is one of my most vivid "where were you when" moments - but it is impossible to overlook the later "sleeping with young boys in underpants among other strange behavior including oh by the way I am no longer a black man and my nose is collapsing" years.

The Captain and I stopped in a local deli Friday afternoon en route to what would prove to be an incredible day of fishing, a wicked thunderstorm and one of the most incredible sunsets I've ever seen (photos and video to come, perhaps later today if I get motivated). While waiting for our sandwiches, I noticed the newspaper rack and started to giggle when I saw this:

DEAD.

So blunt. So NY Post.

Of course, they weren't alone in that approach. The deli did not have the Daily News in the rack, which is the only reason I didn't realize until I checked the web site later that they had gone the exact same route:

Regular readers of WBTC are aware that I don't talk about my job very often. That is going to change this week.

Unrelated but worth noting is that two of my least-favorite things are speaking in public and being the center of attention. Given that, I really have my hands full this week.

I work in media in the golf world, and for the past nine years I have worked behind the scenes, running the media effort at the biggest women's golf tournament in the world. This year, I added a new responsibility to my duties, and it is a doozy.

I have been asked to moderate all the press conferences and interviews at the U.S. Open at Bethpage. This means I'll be sitting next to Tiger, Phil and friends in front of hundreds of media members - reporters, cameramen, etc. And if that weren't enough of a challenge, at 11 a.m. on Tuesday you can watch my efforts live on the Golf Channel. And throughout the week, press conferences will be posted in the video console at http://www.usopen.com/.

The scene will look something like this when the room is filled to capacity...














I have gone through this a million times in my mind. I've watched countless hours of others serving in this capacity to prepare. I have practiced in the mirror and made lots of notes. But it is a dizzying thought. But one I think I'm ready for. Really, my main goal is to avoid doing anything that puts me on You Tube for the rest of my life. This would include passing out, throwing up or accidentally using profanity.

However, should any of the above occur, which will no doubt lead to heart failure, I was born in a hospital a short distance from here. So should I experience any life-threatening situations during the week, I will be taken back (although not from whence I came, because that hospital met this fate) to an area hospital. That would make an ironic circle of life, don't you think?

The good news is I've already done two press conferences today and they've both gone relatively well. We'll see how tomorrow goes...

If you were to visit the Bath and Body Works web site or local store, you would see the 1.5 ounce bottle of Warm Vanilla Sugar Room Spray pictured above costs $5.

Or, in my case, $165.

That's what happens when you keep said room fragrance on a shelf above the toilet, and one day, without touching the shelf, gravity takes over and the bottle falls just as the toilet is flushed. And despite a slow-motion mad dash toward the bowl, the bottle manages to just disappear down the hole, leading to a lengthy "OOOOOHHHH NOOOOOOO" from the dwelling's owner.

You would then take several steps to determine what happened to the can of fragrance. You would learn toilet water is surprisingly cold. You would devise a search system using a plunger and a large plastic salad fork. You would throw away the salad fork so as to not accidentally use it for its intended purpose ever again.

You would then call your parents to describe the scenario and seek advice. Halfway through that phone call, your boyfriend would arrive home and look at you like you were a crazy person as your end of the telephone conversation featured phrases like, "I don't know if it's stuck in there or not" and "I don't know, it's about four inches high."

Your brother would make the initial repair effort, bringing over his toilet snake. While doing a google search for toilet snake, you would mistakenly come across stories like this. Despite a full snaking effort by your brother and enthusiastic spectating of said snaking by your nephews, the repair would prove unsuccessful, with resultory slow and incomplete flushing. You would then ignore the problem for a few weeks, leading to a situation whereby bathroom visits needed to be carefully thought out prior to usage, lest anyone try to flush more than the bowl could handle.

Finally, when you realized the water seemed to be bubbling, causing you to fear the bottle was on the verge of exploding which you are sure would be very, very bad, you would realize it was time to call a professional. You would quickly learn the reason your brother wasn't able to snake the item through is that it needed to be removed from the bottom of the toilet back up through the hole. You would then learn it's actually rather easy to completely remove a toilet bowl from the floor. Not that it's anything you plan to do yourself. But in an emergency, you might be able to pull it off.

And then you would have written a check for $165 which, were it not for the fine Jersey tradition of "knowing a guy," would have been twice that for the complete removal, snaking and replacement of the bowl, along with an unrelated part that needed repair.

So, all in all, you would think $165 for 1.5 ounces was somewhat of a bargain.

I don't typically pay too much attention to college baseball so I'm a little late to the party on this one. But apparently there was a five-hour weather delay during a recent Big East game between UConn and South Florida. This is a long video but highly entertaining:



As a fan of sports, it's nice to see athletes having fun, instead of the surly mopes they seem to become once they join the professional ranks.

As I drove over the Driscoll Bridge this morning on my way home after another great weekend, I had one of those realize-it's-happening-and-pause-to-enjoy-it moments as I glanced eastward along the water to enjoy the pink and purples hues of the early morning sunrise as Springsteen's "Land of Hopes and Dreams" filled the car (of course, I couldn't completely lose myself in the moment as I was going about 80 with my fellow northbound travelers on the Parkway, but I tried).

Truth be told, there have been a lot of those moments lately. Memorial Day weekend was full of them, from a successful Spring Lake Five to lots of time with family and friends to a great fishing outing with the Captain.





























This past weekend featured more of the same...



















I have done a much better job lately of working when it's time to work and enjoying life when it's time to do that, which combined with the great weekends has led to a happier, more easygoing Jersey Girl. Very little gets me fired up anymore (although I do have a draft of a Dear John letter should His Holiness sign with the Vikings, and this made me very angry, and I almost blew an absolute gasket at my friends at Ticketmaster this morning. But other than that, happy and easygoing).

This has left me wondering if it's time to put Wine By The Color on the sleeping geniuses list. I am about to start traveling again and football season is a scant three months away and those are always great sources of shtick, but lately I've been more interested in just living my life without writing about it. One of the things I have always struggled with on this blog is the narcissism necessary to keep it going, to believe people are actually interested in my everyday goings on and the things I find interesting, humorous or annoying. And let's be honest, without my rambling rants, the content drops dramatically around here.

But give me a few weeks. There are some interesting things, mainly work-related, on the horizon that will probably make for good blogging. If not, maybe we'll call it a career.

In the meantime, perhaps I'll just keep posting photos from the Captain. He has a gift...










As a postscript, I looked up "narcissism" to make sure I spelled it correctly. Did you know 75 percent of narcissists are men? Now that I found interesting...