Adventures in Boston- APA Convention 2008

Wednesday
Around noon, Morgan picked me up and we drove to Audrea's house to carpool with her and Tara. We had a pretty calm and uneventful drive to Houston, where we caught our flight out. When we checked in they couldn't get us seats together for the connecting flight in Atlanta, so we got upgraded to business class. We were pretty excited about it. So we got on our flight, and as we were getting close to Atlanta we were told that the airport was busy and we would be put in a holding pattern. Well, that ended up meaning that we landed 20 minutes before our connecting flight left. We were pretty panicked as we were stuck in the back of the plane waiting to get out, and it only got worse when the pilot said "If you are going to Boston, you are in gate C3 and you have to RUN". So when we finally got out of the plane we ran as fast as we could. Audrea and I got there first, and the woman waiting for us was VERY rude about how they were about to close the doors and we had to get moving, and then was very annoyed that Morgan had our boarding passes and wasn't with us yet. We made it though, and sat in our comfy leather seats and quickly got some drinks to help us calm down. We really enjoyed our time in the front row once we were done being annoyed about our sprint and the rudeness. We got to Boston around 10, and were ready to get to our hotel and find dinner. I got on the phone with my parents to let them know I'd made it, and as I was talking and going down the escalator I saw a man from our flight on the stairs next to us. All of a sudden, halfway down, he fell. I got off the phone and the four of us ran over to see if he was okay... and he wasn't. He had definitely hit his head at least once, and was very disoriented. Tara went over and stabilized his head and tried talking to him. A medical student joined her and spoke to him in Spanish. He really couldn't answer any questions about who he was or what was going on. An airport employee called an ambulance, and we stayed with him until it came. It was pretty scary, but when he left we were pretty sure he would be okay. We got our stuff and took a taxi to our hotel. It was 11 at this point, so we asked the concierge (or rather, the girl at the desk who wasn't actually a concierge) where we could eat. We walked toward Intermission Tavern, and on the corner was an ambulance... and it was the same one that had picked up the man at the airport! Tara talked to the EMT, and he is regularly parked at that corner during his shift. She got his number hoping we could get him to give us some local suggestions and fun later. The retstaurant was pretty good, the waitress from Plano was fun to talk to, and we had a good end to our nutty day.

Thursday
We got plenty of rest, and woke up ready to go. Morgan and Audrea had a poster session at 3, so we went to lunch at a wonderful place that the waitress recommended to us called Parish Cafe, a sandwich shop where all of the sandwiches were created by the best Boston chefs. After lunch we headed out to the convention. We walked around the vendors and met up with a couple other students, and then when it was time for their poster sessions I walked around the posters (plus got a complimentary massage :) ). When they were done we went back to the hotel and relaxed before dinner. We went out exploring Chinatown, which was right next to our hotel, and ended up at Penang, a Malaysian restaurant. We were joined by two of our classmates, John and Ben. After dinner we wanted to see the Italian section of Boston, so we walked through downtown up to the North End. It was a nice walk, and we ended up getting gelato at the Vittoria Caffe, then walked back, stopping by the Holocaust Memorial on our way.

Friday
Because three of us were presenting our work at noon, we decided to get breakfast. A cop suggested The Paramount, which was a great local find. We went to the convention and made some evening plans online before doing our poster sessions. Mine went pretty well- not that many people were interested in my research, but those who were made it worth the effort. I had some good discussions, and a couple people were going to use it to make decisions on children (one was going to show it to her superintendent!). Here I am with my poster in all my academic glory.

After our poster sessions ended we went back to the hotel to get Audrea, then decided to hit the Shopping District (basically a section of stores that you can find anywhere). I got a new shirt and a dress to wear out that night, and the others did a lot of shoe shopping (my feet are too big to shop at that store :( ). We got back, got fancied up, and it was time to hit the town. It was restaurant week, and we decided to get a nice meal and live it up. We went to Caliterra, where we ate and drank well. The rest of the evening... well, what happens at APA stays at APA :)

Saturday
I broke away from the group to have lunch with four friends from my teachers' chatroom. I had met one and was happy to see her, and the others were great as well. We had a very long lunch at Jacob Wirth's, just enjoying each other's company. Afterward it was time for 3 of them to go, but the last one had a little while before her train took her back, so we walked to Boston Common. It just so happened that there were some Revolutionary War events going on, so we got to see some people in British uniforms doing demonstrations. My friend knows the history really well, so I learned a lot.

We then walked around by the Frog Pond and then to the hotel so she could catch her train. My roommates were going to a couple workshops that I wasn't interested in, and I wanted to get out, so I took the subway over to the Charles River and walked the Esplanade.

As I was walking I realized there was an event going on ahead of me. Sure enough, people were waiting for a concert at the Hatch Shell. I listened long enough to find out it was going to be KC and the Sunshine Band. Unfortunately I had to get back to meet up with my friends, so I never got my disco on. I met them at the hotel where they had been at workshops, we grabbed a quick dinner and shopped at an attached mall, then went back to rest and watch tv.

Sunday
Since Audrea had missed out on our breakfast, we walked back to The Paramount, but it was so busy we couldn't eat there. We found a cafe to eat at, then walked through Beacon Hill.

When we reached the Esplanade, we decided to jump on the subway and see Cambridge and Harvard. Cambridge was very charming, much more relaxed than Boston but still beautiful. We walked around Harvard, shopped, and ate crepes. We went back to our hotel, rested, and headed off to the airport. We had plenty of time, so we grabbed one last dinner at the most famous seafood restaurant, Legal Sea Foods, which happens to have an airport location. The New England clam chowder and crab cake were an excellent way to end the trip. We flew to Houston, drove home, and I was back at 3am, tired but happy :)

What is Lisa's Jeopardy! audition?

I walked out of the elevator on the third floor of the Westin Park Central Hotel in Dallas. I was a half hour early for my audition, but around 10 people were already there. I looked around, surveying the crowd... then saw a familiar face. In this small audition of 22 people, in a city that was holding 11 auditions, was someone who lived in my dorm 12 years ago. He didn't remember me right off, but once I told him who I was we did a little "Oh yeah, that was a long time ago, where are you now?" chitchat. I then listened to the other conversations while waiting to get started. Seeing Chris had calmed my nerves a little, and I was ready to have fun.

A few minutes later we were called around the corner to begin signing in and filling out paperwork. Basic contact information, followed by the requisite questions to make sure we weren't affiliated with the show, didn't have any felonies, or things that could otherwise get us removed from the audition. We also had to make sure we had our anecdotes ready to tell Alex, should we ever be in his presence. We also were given our "parting gift" of the day, a Jeopardy! pen designed to be very clicky and double as a buzzer as we practiced at home. While we filled out the paperwork, a man named Tony came out to take our pictures. Tony was like a normal-heighted Danny DeVito, very fun and lighthearted, which helped break any last bit of nerves. He took our pictures with a Polaroid camera, I assume for the ease of attaching it to our paperwork but really threw me off. To top it off, our answer sheet for our test was obviously a copy of a typewriter-created document that had been around for a couple decades. Guess they save the high-tech budget for the real thing.

Right at 9am were were summoned into the audition room, your generic hotel meeting room except for the big Jeopardy! screen being projected up front. We had a seat, and were then introduced to Maggie, the contestant coordinator, and Charlie, the person running the gameboard, and reintroduced to Tony and the woman who signed us in. We got an overview of our morning from Maggie, who has more energy than anyone has a right to have (but then again, if your job is to prep game show contestants, it seems like a necessary quality). She gave out a couple Jeopardy! travel mugs to people who could answer a couple random questions about the show (I knew the first one but wasn't fast enough). At some point in her talking she asked a question that was clearly needing an enthusiastic reply in unison. And I was the only one who was loud or enthusiastic. I was then complimented on being the only person doing what was expected from future game show contestants :) It felt good to know that I was being noticed, and hoped that I would continue to get noticed.

Maggie then let Tony take over for Jeopardy! 101. We got the lecture on looking for clues, paying attention to category names, and working with special categories like Before and After and Rhyme Time. We then went through some questions, all of us getting a turn to answer something. We then got a video of tips from Alex and the Clue Crew, with a lot of emphasis on having fun. At this point Maggie came back in to go over any questions we might have about the process. Out of all of the auditions, a couple thousand, 400 are needed every year to tape between July and April. Test scores are the main way of choosing, but personality is also considered (though test scores are much more important). She pointed out that even though it says on the paperwork that just because you travel to the studio you may still not get on, that's really just a formality. Sometimes people are found to be ineligible and have to be sent back home, for legal reasons, or because they are having affairs with Alex... and at this point she starts staring at me as she talks! I play along with it, looking up at the ceiling and twiddling my fingers and she kept going on about my sordid affair. It probably helped that I was the only woman under 40 there, but I'm willing to go through some mild embarrassment if it means Maggie remembers me :)

So we finally got to take our test. It is 50 questions, little of everything, and you have 8 seconds to respond. The websites I've read all say that you have to have 35 right to get on the show, and after looking up a few things when I got home, I think I got 45. Similar to how I did on the online test.Should have been 46, but I second guessed myself. I won't say more about it, because the questions are confidential- I would hate for someone who is auditioning in the future to see this and get an edge that gives them my spot on the show :)

Part two of the process was mock play and interviewing. While Tony organized our applications, photos, and answer sheets, Maggie instructed us on the fine art of the buzzer. You are to tap the button repeatedly, and only when the lights are on. We had to pantomime it to prove we had the thumb action down. We got to play three at a time, just 12 questions or so to give us the opportunity to feel real gameplay. It was very important to Maggie that we spoke loudly and clearly, and from the beginning of the process she was getting on people's cases about it (if you know me you know that I will NEVER have that problem..). After the playtime we were going to be asked about our profession, hobbies, and what we would do with the money if we won. We were encouraged to stand out- she knows that as "Jeopardy! people" we all enjoy traveling and reading, so it is important to differentiate yourself. Point noted as gameplay began.

The first three people went, and played reasonably well, and interviewed okay (except for the national champion bridge player who got lots of kudos). Maggie then begins calling the next three by saying "Anna Lisa!" I'm looking around wondering who that... and apparently it was me, because then she looked at me and said "Lisa, come up!" I guess after all of the fun we'd been having I'd acquired a nickname. Or something. I was hoping it was good. So I played my questions.. and was pretty unhappy with myself. I didn't look like an idiot, but I kept getting hit with things I wasn't comfortable with. They aren't judging you on your answers during the mock game, just your playing style, but if you can't answer anything right it's probably noted ;) But I hung in there. Then it was interview time. I said what I do for a living (if school counts as a living) and Maggie asked me all about why I was interested in it and what my goals were. She liked my warm and fuzzy comments about my teaching background and not wanting kids to go unnoticed and fail. She thing asked about what I do for fun, and I mentioned my dog, and Tony wanted to know what kind of dog I had, and if a rat terrier is like Toto, and it kind of got off track. When we finally established what Gigi looks like, Maggie decided to ask me about one of my five anecdotes (I ended up being one of maybe three people who she did that too). "It says here you had your picture taken with the Queen of England, I'd like to hear more about that!" So I told her the story, which I thought of because my mom has used it in many Secret Santa clues over the years. (When I lived in England as a child the royal family drive past us, and my mom took a photo of the queen, which ended up having our reflections on the window, so we are in the shot with her :) ). Maggie, Tony, and everyone loved the story. Finally I got the money question, and to spice up my travels I said that I would go back to Belize, where I served in the Peace Corps, and would then travel south as far as I could go. Maggie asked if Belize was as wonderful as she'd heard, and was very interested in the fact that I'd lived there.

After my turn was over I watched 16 other people do their games and interviews. Some people were a lot more interesting than others, but all were pretty bright. One 19 year old was being very dorkishly talkative, which may have endeared him to Maggie or may have turned her off. Otherwise, everyone was nice and pleasant. I did, however, get noticed one more time. During an interview with a writer from Austin, Maggie asked if he watched crime shows, because he was writing a novel about a serial killer. He said no, because he doesn't want it to influence his writing, so he watches things like Top Chef. It turns out Tony and Maggie are big fans of the show, and ask him who got voted off last night. He had no idea, and they seemed anxious to know, so I toldthem that I saw it. Writer didn't want to know, but Maggie did, so we agreed to meet after the show so I could tell her privately. At the end of the mock games and interviews Maggie wrapped up, and she walked to the door so we could shake her hand on the way out. I, of course, whispered the Top Chef results :)

It was a great experience. I felt like I did everything I could, both academically and socially. I did well on the tests, and I will be someone Maggie remembers for being a lot of fun. Now it's time to sit by the phone and hope that sometime in the next year I get to do this for real :)