B"H
(Two paragraphs from the last entry:)
Sometime in March, I think, I got a call from Robert from Jeopardy. He asked me if I wanted to be on Jeopardy and I said, emphatically, "Yes!" But, the date that he asked me if I could be there was in the middle of Passover. The first two and last two days of Passover are holiday days and we are not permitted to drive, use electricity, or use just about any modern electrical (or telephone, cell phone, or the like) or technological product. Now that I have gone to California, I realize that I was right to tell him I couldn’t do it – I wouldn’t have had the time to squeeze this in between the holiday days. Since this was the last taping for the year, Robert told me that they’d keep me in mind for the new season.
I was concerned that, especially with the awful set-up of the Jewish holidays this year (Rosh Hashana was Monday night to Wednesday night, as were Sukkot and Shmini Atzeret / Simhat Tora, and Yom Kippur was on a Thursday) that I would be called sometime during the Jewish holiday season (which pretty much lasts for 4 weeks). But thankfully, that didn’t happen.
On Erev (the day before) Yom Kippur I got a call from Robert. He asked me if I could make it on November 11. I checked the calendar, found out it was a couple of weeks after the Jewish holidays (and a few weeks before my nephew’s Bar Mitzva – I later found out that it was a few days after my cousin’s Bar Mitzva, but that was in town, so I was able to go to the Bar Mitzva and do Jeopardy).
Now came the stressing – not over being on Jeopardy, but the stressing over the plane tickets, the hotel room (they don’t pay for you and you’re only guaranteed $1000, so if you’re heading to Los Angeles from the Northeast, you need to keep costs down), food, etc. The actual Jeopardy experience didn’t stress me out at all. I’d been looking forward to this since I was a little girl. My Mom and great-aunt had been on Jeopardy in earlier years. I’d been practicing in various ways since I was in my teens (from writing down what I got right as a teen, to counting amounts on my fingers, to counting right answers on my fingers, to counting the right answers while using a click pen as a substitute buzzer). So even though, in order to actually do this I had to schlep from coast to coast and sleep in a hotel (I’m not a hotel person), I was as ready as I’d ever be for the actual Jeopardy experience. I knew that a lot had to do with what categories came up (my Mom told me about her experience – I missed the actual show she was on – that she was ahead after the Jeopardy round but when she saw the Double Jeopardy categories she knew she was toast), who else I was competing against and how fast I was on the buzzer.
I managed to get reasonably decently priced plane tickets (my Mom came with me – I’d never been to California before and didn’t like the idea of going someplace I’d never been before all by myself) and the hotel rate, I was told by my cousin who lives just outside LA, was very good. Then came the food…………
The week before we left, I did some research on vegan restaurants in the area. I found one that was perfect for me – since, besides being a vegan, I can’t eat grains or sugars or soy it was hard even with vegan restaurants – it was a raw food restaurant, called "Leaf Cuisine", that had a number of soy free dishes. I called them and found out that I could get food delivered from them if I contacted a food delivery place they deal with. I ordered a lasagna type dish called "rawsagna", a kale salad, a wrap type sandwich (make with greens on the outside instead of bread) and carrot juice (the carrot juice was a mistake – it got all over the bag, but it was delicious). There were some more arrangements I had to make (since I wanted the food to be there when I got there) but this all worked out rather well and the food was delicious. But my Mom didn’t want anything from a place that said it was raw food (turned out she liked the food too, but neither of us knew what would happen). So the Sunday before we were leaving (we left Monday afternoon), I spent about 8 or so hours on the phone trying to find an appropriate kosher restaurant (that also had food I could eat). I found one called "La Gondola" on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills and I ordered some stuff for my Mom for Monday night (when we got there). The food was there when we got to the hotel.
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Strong Biblical Women
Strong Biblical Women 2
Why Be Vegetarian
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2
Rosh Hashana
Quick Vegan Cooking
Creating new recipes from old
Strong Biblical Women Part 3
Hanuka
About the Jewish Calendar
Witches and Morality
Presidential Trivia Quiz
Christmas and the Jewish Single
Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions
Presidents1: George Washington
Passover: Holiday of Freedom
Ruth and Naomi
John and John Quincy Adams
Television Trivia Quiz
Tamar -- Mother of Kings
Jewish Perspective of G-d
Yocheved -- Mother of Moshe (Moses)
Purim, Esther et al
Being an internet small business owner
Why I'm a Red Sox fan
Pythagorean Theorem
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Top 10 Presidents
Bottom 10 Presidents
How Can We Appeal to G-d for Forgiveness?
Math Tips 2
Searching for a Fashion Partner
Math Hints 3
One Actor, Two Shows (TV Quiz)
Presidential Tidbits
Why Should anyone hire Me?
Eat a Healthy Breakfast
My experience on Jeopardy
Project:Runway and how it got me excited about designing again
Who's Buried in Grant's Tomb?
My Vocational Experiences
Why I'm a Red Sox Fan
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Sunday, March 29, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
I Lost on Jeopardy Part III
B"H
(One paragraph from the last entry:)
I hadn’t heard from Jeopardy by the time the next on-line test came along (well, the next one we were told that we could take). So, since we were told that Jeopardy loves people who keep trying (there was one person there that was on his fourth or fifth time there), I decided to take the test again. There was only one problem, though. I was scheduled to be in Israel for my niece’s wedding when the test was being given. So, while the test is given at 8 pm Eastern Standard Time, it’s 3 am in Israel.
Normally, that wouldn’t be a problem. At 3 am, everyone is asleep in my sister’s house, nobody would be competing with me for the computer nor would anyone be around to distract me. But, because so many people came in for my niece’s wedding (and my sister-in-law’s wedding two days later), my sister didn’t have enough room in the house to put everyone up, so I was sleeping at a friend’s down the block (where I didn’t have the availability of the internet). But two very interesting things happened.
The day before “test day”, the lights and electricity went out at the house staying at. I walked down to my sister’s house and woke her up and she said I should bring the stuff I needed down the block and sleep on her couch (which was fine with me). She helped me set up the couch and I slept there that night.
The next night, we went to get some take-out (and pick up my brother’s daughter since my brother and sister-in-law were on vacation for their anniversary and the two teens were by themselves, so we invited them for dinner that night – my nephew would come straight to the house from school) at the same mall my sister brought her kids to the eye doctor and it started to pour. The rain was coming down so heavily that we got totally soaked just running to the car. I have to give my sister credit for driving home in that weather. I had never seen such a rainstorm in Israel before and I don’t recall ever seeing a storm where it poured so much for so long.
It was pouring so hard that my sister told my brother’s children that they should stay over (there was no one to go home to anyway and with this horrible weather, no one knew if the electricity wouldn’t go out). It was so bad that my sister said she wasn’t even going to drive me down the block (I certainly couldn’t walk in that weather – I got soaked just running to the car to get my pjs from the night before). So, thanks to the “blackout” the night before, the couch was already set up for me.
I went to sleep about 1 am and woke up again about 2 am, leaving me plenty of time to sign on and get ready for the Jeopardy test. I did get on in time, and I took the test (though I’m not at all sure how I did – I couldn’t even think of George Eliot’s name until the time had almost run out and I was trying so hard to get it in time that I spelled it “Elite”, so I doubt, even with their very liberal spelling rules, that I got it right).
Sometime in March, I think, I got a call from Robert from Jeopardy. He asked me if I wanted to be on Jeopardy and I said, emphatically, “Yes!” But, the date that he asked me if I could be there was in the middle of Passover. The first two and last two days of Passover are holiday days and we are not permitted to drive, use electricity, or use just about any modern electrical (or telephone, cell phone, or the like) or technological product. Now that I have gone to California, I realize that I was right to tell him I couldn’t do it – I wouldn’t have had the time to squeeze this in between the holiday days. Since this was the last taping for the year, Robert told me that they’d keep me in mind for the new season.
I was concerned that, especially with the awful set-up of the Jewish holidays this year (Rosh Hashana was Monday night to Wednesday night, as were Sukkot and Shmini Atzeret / Simhat Tora, and Yom Kippur was on a Thursday) that I would be called sometime during the Jewish holiday season (which pretty much lasts for 4 weeks). But thankfully, that didn’t happen.
Stay tuned for the next installment.....
Check out my squidoo lenses (articles):
Strong Biblical Women
Strong Biblical Women 2
Why Be Vegetarian
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2
Rosh Hashana
Quick Vegan Cooking
Creating new recipes from old
Strong Biblical Women Part 3
Hanuka About the Jewish Calendar
Witches and Morality
Christmas and the Jewish Single
Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions
Presidents1: George Washington
Check out my other blogs:
Israel and it's Place in the World
Jewish Singles
Strong Jewish Women
(One paragraph from the last entry:)
I hadn’t heard from Jeopardy by the time the next on-line test came along (well, the next one we were told that we could take). So, since we were told that Jeopardy loves people who keep trying (there was one person there that was on his fourth or fifth time there), I decided to take the test again. There was only one problem, though. I was scheduled to be in Israel for my niece’s wedding when the test was being given. So, while the test is given at 8 pm Eastern Standard Time, it’s 3 am in Israel.
Normally, that wouldn’t be a problem. At 3 am, everyone is asleep in my sister’s house, nobody would be competing with me for the computer nor would anyone be around to distract me. But, because so many people came in for my niece’s wedding (and my sister-in-law’s wedding two days later), my sister didn’t have enough room in the house to put everyone up, so I was sleeping at a friend’s down the block (where I didn’t have the availability of the internet). But two very interesting things happened.
The day before “test day”, the lights and electricity went out at the house staying at. I walked down to my sister’s house and woke her up and she said I should bring the stuff I needed down the block and sleep on her couch (which was fine with me). She helped me set up the couch and I slept there that night.
The next night, we went to get some take-out (and pick up my brother’s daughter since my brother and sister-in-law were on vacation for their anniversary and the two teens were by themselves, so we invited them for dinner that night – my nephew would come straight to the house from school) at the same mall my sister brought her kids to the eye doctor and it started to pour. The rain was coming down so heavily that we got totally soaked just running to the car. I have to give my sister credit for driving home in that weather. I had never seen such a rainstorm in Israel before and I don’t recall ever seeing a storm where it poured so much for so long.
It was pouring so hard that my sister told my brother’s children that they should stay over (there was no one to go home to anyway and with this horrible weather, no one knew if the electricity wouldn’t go out). It was so bad that my sister said she wasn’t even going to drive me down the block (I certainly couldn’t walk in that weather – I got soaked just running to the car to get my pjs from the night before). So, thanks to the “blackout” the night before, the couch was already set up for me.
I went to sleep about 1 am and woke up again about 2 am, leaving me plenty of time to sign on and get ready for the Jeopardy test. I did get on in time, and I took the test (though I’m not at all sure how I did – I couldn’t even think of George Eliot’s name until the time had almost run out and I was trying so hard to get it in time that I spelled it “Elite”, so I doubt, even with their very liberal spelling rules, that I got it right).
Sometime in March, I think, I got a call from Robert from Jeopardy. He asked me if I wanted to be on Jeopardy and I said, emphatically, “Yes!” But, the date that he asked me if I could be there was in the middle of Passover. The first two and last two days of Passover are holiday days and we are not permitted to drive, use electricity, or use just about any modern electrical (or telephone, cell phone, or the like) or technological product. Now that I have gone to California, I realize that I was right to tell him I couldn’t do it – I wouldn’t have had the time to squeeze this in between the holiday days. Since this was the last taping for the year, Robert told me that they’d keep me in mind for the new season.
I was concerned that, especially with the awful set-up of the Jewish holidays this year (Rosh Hashana was Monday night to Wednesday night, as were Sukkot and Shmini Atzeret / Simhat Tora, and Yom Kippur was on a Thursday) that I would be called sometime during the Jewish holiday season (which pretty much lasts for 4 weeks). But thankfully, that didn’t happen.
Stay tuned for the next installment.....
Check out my squidoo lenses (articles):
Strong Biblical Women
Strong Biblical Women 2
Why Be Vegetarian
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2
Rosh Hashana
Quick Vegan Cooking
Creating new recipes from old
Strong Biblical Women Part 3
Hanuka About the Jewish Calendar
Witches and Morality
Christmas and the Jewish Single
Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions
Presidents1: George Washington
Check out my other blogs:
Israel and it's Place in the World
Jewish Singles
Strong Jewish Women
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Dr. Phil, what ARE you thinking?
B"H
I was watching Dr. Phil's program last night. They had another installment (I hadn't seen the first installment) of yet another weight loss contest. I personally think these weight loss shows are good except......
Ok, it's a good idea to get people who are very heavy and who have really horrible habits (eating badly, not exercising) together and help them learn to make better decisions. That's really laudable. But there are some issues I have with these shows in general.
First off, I have noticed that often they push people a bit too much. They take people who have rarely stood up for long periods of time, much less walked, and push them to do things that athletes do during their off season training. This helps the people see big numbers quickly, but it's not necessarily the best way to go, in my opinion.
I'm a bit of an expert on dieting and losing weight. I've been fighting the battle of the bulge since I was in my teens. I've tried calorie counting, the eating man's diet, the enzyme catalyst diet, the fit for life diet, Atkins, Ornish, Powter, running, walking, pilates and yoga. All worked to some degree, but some helped pile more pounds on (most notably Atkins since it's such an unnatural way for me to eat that I couldn't keep it up for long and when I stopped, I slingshot not only back to where I started, but to a higher weight -- it was after my first run at Atkins that I reached my heaviest point -- about 250 pounds).
The times I lost the bulk of my weight were when I became a vegetarian and, 12 1/2 years later, when I went vegan. I'm still fighting -- I've recently (within the last 10 or so months) started losing weight again (by taking nutrient supplements designed to treat my adrenals) and then even more recently (about 4 weeks ago) started Prevention Magazine's Flat Belly diet. Since Pesah (Passover) last year, I've lost almost 20 pounds, a bit more than 5 of them since I started the diet.
In any case, back to the main point -- the second thing I don't like is that they eliminate people. Granted, they didn't last night (and I hope they never do, but that may be a vain hope), but they were supposed to and made it sound like they will in the future. This is just what these people need, right? Here are a bunch of people who already have low self-esteem (I ought to know, I'm the princess of low self-esteem) and, instead of encouraging them, they will bring on a streak of self-loathing by making them feel like losers in the weight loss game. It's also a bad idea because the people who need it the most will get the least help.
I also get the feeling that often these people will go back to their "real life" and without a trainer or a nutrition coach, end up back on the couch. I hope I'm wrong (will we get to see what they look like a year or two years or five years from now?). But I'm also still worried.
From my perspective, the best thing anyone can do diet wise is to eat lots of vegetables -- sauteed vegetables, boiled vegetables, steamed vegetables, raw vegetables, vegetable soup, etc. Learning how to cook for yourself (and not be dependent on industrial food) is a huge step forward. Check out recipes on line and in cookbooks. But eat veggies!!!
Check out my squidoo lenses (articles):
Strong Biblical Women
Strong Biblical Women 2
Why Be Vegetarian
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2
Rosh Hashana
Quick Vegan Cooking
Creating new recipes from old
Strong Biblical Women Part 3
Hanuka
About the Jewish Calendar
Witches and Morality
Presidential Trivia Quiz
Christmas and the Jewish Single
Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions
Presidents1: George Washington
Passover: Holiday of Freedom
Ruth and Naomi
John and John Quincy Adams
Television Trivia Quiz
Tamar -- Mother of Kings
Jewish Perspective of G-d
Why I'm a Red Sox Fan
Check out my other blogs:
Jewish Sandwich
Jewish Singles
Strong Jewish Women
Israel and its place in the world
Everything Goes
Check out my other merchandise:
Other merchandise
Ties, Shoes, etc. on Zazzle
I was watching Dr. Phil's program last night. They had another installment (I hadn't seen the first installment) of yet another weight loss contest. I personally think these weight loss shows are good except......
Ok, it's a good idea to get people who are very heavy and who have really horrible habits (eating badly, not exercising) together and help them learn to make better decisions. That's really laudable. But there are some issues I have with these shows in general.
First off, I have noticed that often they push people a bit too much. They take people who have rarely stood up for long periods of time, much less walked, and push them to do things that athletes do during their off season training. This helps the people see big numbers quickly, but it's not necessarily the best way to go, in my opinion.
I'm a bit of an expert on dieting and losing weight. I've been fighting the battle of the bulge since I was in my teens. I've tried calorie counting, the eating man's diet, the enzyme catalyst diet, the fit for life diet, Atkins, Ornish, Powter, running, walking, pilates and yoga. All worked to some degree, but some helped pile more pounds on (most notably Atkins since it's such an unnatural way for me to eat that I couldn't keep it up for long and when I stopped, I slingshot not only back to where I started, but to a higher weight -- it was after my first run at Atkins that I reached my heaviest point -- about 250 pounds).
The times I lost the bulk of my weight were when I became a vegetarian and, 12 1/2 years later, when I went vegan. I'm still fighting -- I've recently (within the last 10 or so months) started losing weight again (by taking nutrient supplements designed to treat my adrenals) and then even more recently (about 4 weeks ago) started Prevention Magazine's Flat Belly diet. Since Pesah (Passover) last year, I've lost almost 20 pounds, a bit more than 5 of them since I started the diet.
In any case, back to the main point -- the second thing I don't like is that they eliminate people. Granted, they didn't last night (and I hope they never do, but that may be a vain hope), but they were supposed to and made it sound like they will in the future. This is just what these people need, right? Here are a bunch of people who already have low self-esteem (I ought to know, I'm the princess of low self-esteem) and, instead of encouraging them, they will bring on a streak of self-loathing by making them feel like losers in the weight loss game. It's also a bad idea because the people who need it the most will get the least help.
I also get the feeling that often these people will go back to their "real life" and without a trainer or a nutrition coach, end up back on the couch. I hope I'm wrong (will we get to see what they look like a year or two years or five years from now?). But I'm also still worried.
From my perspective, the best thing anyone can do diet wise is to eat lots of vegetables -- sauteed vegetables, boiled vegetables, steamed vegetables, raw vegetables, vegetable soup, etc. Learning how to cook for yourself (and not be dependent on industrial food) is a huge step forward. Check out recipes on line and in cookbooks. But eat veggies!!!
Check out my squidoo lenses (articles):
Strong Biblical Women
Strong Biblical Women 2
Why Be Vegetarian
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2
Rosh Hashana
Quick Vegan Cooking
Creating new recipes from old
Strong Biblical Women Part 3
Hanuka
About the Jewish Calendar
Witches and Morality
Presidential Trivia Quiz
Christmas and the Jewish Single
Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions
Presidents1: George Washington
Passover: Holiday of Freedom
Ruth and Naomi
John and John Quincy Adams
Television Trivia Quiz
Tamar -- Mother of Kings
Jewish Perspective of G-d
Why I'm a Red Sox Fan
Check out my other blogs:
Jewish Sandwich
Jewish Singles
Strong Jewish Women
Israel and its place in the world
Everything Goes
Check out my other merchandise:
Other merchandise
Ties, Shoes, etc. on Zazzle
Monday, February 2, 2009
I Lost on Jeopardy Part II
B"H
(I'm giving you two paragraphs from part one to remind you of where I left off -- they're in italics below:)
I got a letter (or was it a card? I was so excited I don’t even remember) saying that I should go to NY for an interview for Jeopardy. It was on a Friday in June at 9 o’clock in the morning. And it was a Friday that my Mom (who I always do these things with) would be in Israel. This meant several things: 1) I would have to go on a Friday (a day that I usually devote to getting ready for Shabbat – the Sabbath) 2) I would have to get up at an unG-dly hour in the morning (to me, anything before 8:30 am is unG-dly) – something like 6 in the morning (usually, if I’m up at 6 in the morning it’s only because I haven’t gone to sleep yet, and this happens more often than you might expect) 3) I would have to go ALONE (something I rarely do).
But, just to show how much Jeopardy means to me, I managed to do this. I even got into bed the night before around 10 pm (the only way I’m in bed by 10 pm is if I’m sick or I just came back from Israel the day after staying up all night to see the Giants in the Super Bowl that starts in Israel at about 1:30 in the morning, but I digress).
I actually got up before the alarm rang (a pattern that will repeat, but I’m jumping ahead). I got myself ready, off to the train (I borrowed my brother-in-law’s parking permit to park at the train station) and into Manhattan early enough to walk to the Waldorf Astoria from Penn Station (forgetting that Grand Central was in the middle if I walked all the way East, so I walked through Grand Central to “get to the other side”) by 8:30, before anyone else. The room wasn’t even open yet.
The other people started coming a few at a time. Since I was in NY, there were a few other Orthodox Jews there. One, another woman, overheard me talking to my brother about what time Shabbat (the Sabbath) started where he was and started talking to me. That was when I started to feel more comfortable (not, mind you, that I was nervous, just that I didn’t quite feel “at home”).
I had previously tried out for “Who wants to be a Millionaire”. For “Millionaire”, one goes to the studio to be in the audience. Anyone who is in the audience can take the test for the show. Most of the people in the audience do take the test. So if you pass the test (they don’t tell you who has passed until late in the second of two shows your are part of the audience), you are one of only about 10-15% of the audience to pass and you feel really smart.
With Jeopardy, though, everyone who is invited to the audition has passed the test on-line. I have likened the experience to new students coming into Harvard – just about all of the students who come into the freshman class of Harvard were valedictorians of their High School classes. So they’re used to be the smartest one in their class. But then they come to Harvard and everyone there was the best and brightest in their school.
It’s the same with Jeopardy. Everyone there is the best in trivia and that sort of knowledge in their milieu. So you don’t feel quite so brilliant. It can be a bit intimidating.
They took us into the room and we sat down. I don’t remember everything that happened in the order that it happened, but I remember several things. I remember them giving us another test (this test was very easy, much more so than the on-line test, it’s possible I got all the answers right and I couldn’t have gotten more than 3 or 4 wrong). I think they just give this test to make sure that the people in the room are actually the people who passed the on-line test, not someone substituting for them. I also remember doing a quick rehearsal of using the buttons. And I remember that nobody (including, or especially??? Myself) stood out as being any faster or smarter than anyone else.
I hadn’t heard from Jeopardy by the time the next on-line test came along (well, the next one we were told that we could take). So, since we were told that Jeopardy loves people who keep trying (there was one person there that was on his fourth or fifth time there), I decided to take the test again. There was only one problem, though. I was scheduled to be in Israel for my niece’s wedding when the test was being given. So, while the test is given at 8 pm Eastern Standard Time, it’s 3 am in Israel.
Stay tuned for more...
Check out my squidoo lenses (articles):
Strong Biblical Women
Strong Biblical Women 2
Why Be Vegetarian
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2
Rosh Hashana
Quick Vegan Cooking
Creating new recipes from old
Strong Biblical Women Part 3
Hanuka
About the Jewish Calendar
Witches and Morality
Presidential Trivia Quiz
Christmas and the Jewish Single
Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions
Presidents1: George Washington
Passover: Holiday of Freedom
Ruth and Naomi
John and John Quincy Adams
Television Trivia Quiz
Tamar -- Mother of Kings
Jewish Perspective of G-d
Why I'm a Red Sox Fan
Check out my other blogs:
Jewish Sandwich
Jewish Singles
Strong Jewish Women
Israel and its place in the world
Everything Goes
Check out my other merchandise:
Other merchandise
Ties, Shoes, etc. on Zazzle
(I'm giving you two paragraphs from part one to remind you of where I left off -- they're in italics below:)
I got a letter (or was it a card? I was so excited I don’t even remember) saying that I should go to NY for an interview for Jeopardy. It was on a Friday in June at 9 o’clock in the morning. And it was a Friday that my Mom (who I always do these things with) would be in Israel. This meant several things: 1) I would have to go on a Friday (a day that I usually devote to getting ready for Shabbat – the Sabbath) 2) I would have to get up at an unG-dly hour in the morning (to me, anything before 8:30 am is unG-dly) – something like 6 in the morning (usually, if I’m up at 6 in the morning it’s only because I haven’t gone to sleep yet, and this happens more often than you might expect) 3) I would have to go ALONE (something I rarely do).
But, just to show how much Jeopardy means to me, I managed to do this. I even got into bed the night before around 10 pm (the only way I’m in bed by 10 pm is if I’m sick or I just came back from Israel the day after staying up all night to see the Giants in the Super Bowl that starts in Israel at about 1:30 in the morning, but I digress).
I actually got up before the alarm rang (a pattern that will repeat, but I’m jumping ahead). I got myself ready, off to the train (I borrowed my brother-in-law’s parking permit to park at the train station) and into Manhattan early enough to walk to the Waldorf Astoria from Penn Station (forgetting that Grand Central was in the middle if I walked all the way East, so I walked through Grand Central to “get to the other side”) by 8:30, before anyone else. The room wasn’t even open yet.
The other people started coming a few at a time. Since I was in NY, there were a few other Orthodox Jews there. One, another woman, overheard me talking to my brother about what time Shabbat (the Sabbath) started where he was and started talking to me. That was when I started to feel more comfortable (not, mind you, that I was nervous, just that I didn’t quite feel “at home”).
I had previously tried out for “Who wants to be a Millionaire”. For “Millionaire”, one goes to the studio to be in the audience. Anyone who is in the audience can take the test for the show. Most of the people in the audience do take the test. So if you pass the test (they don’t tell you who has passed until late in the second of two shows your are part of the audience), you are one of only about 10-15% of the audience to pass and you feel really smart.
With Jeopardy, though, everyone who is invited to the audition has passed the test on-line. I have likened the experience to new students coming into Harvard – just about all of the students who come into the freshman class of Harvard were valedictorians of their High School classes. So they’re used to be the smartest one in their class. But then they come to Harvard and everyone there was the best and brightest in their school.
It’s the same with Jeopardy. Everyone there is the best in trivia and that sort of knowledge in their milieu. So you don’t feel quite so brilliant. It can be a bit intimidating.
They took us into the room and we sat down. I don’t remember everything that happened in the order that it happened, but I remember several things. I remember them giving us another test (this test was very easy, much more so than the on-line test, it’s possible I got all the answers right and I couldn’t have gotten more than 3 or 4 wrong). I think they just give this test to make sure that the people in the room are actually the people who passed the on-line test, not someone substituting for them. I also remember doing a quick rehearsal of using the buttons. And I remember that nobody (including, or especially??? Myself) stood out as being any faster or smarter than anyone else.
I hadn’t heard from Jeopardy by the time the next on-line test came along (well, the next one we were told that we could take). So, since we were told that Jeopardy loves people who keep trying (there was one person there that was on his fourth or fifth time there), I decided to take the test again. There was only one problem, though. I was scheduled to be in Israel for my niece’s wedding when the test was being given. So, while the test is given at 8 pm Eastern Standard Time, it’s 3 am in Israel.
Stay tuned for more...
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Strong Biblical Women
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Why Be Vegetarian
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2
Rosh Hashana
Quick Vegan Cooking
Creating new recipes from old
Strong Biblical Women Part 3
Hanuka
About the Jewish Calendar
Witches and Morality
Presidential Trivia Quiz
Christmas and the Jewish Single
Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions
Presidents1: George Washington
Passover: Holiday of Freedom
Ruth and Naomi
John and John Quincy Adams
Television Trivia Quiz
Tamar -- Mother of Kings
Jewish Perspective of G-d
Why I'm a Red Sox Fan
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Everything Goes
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Sunday, January 25, 2009
"I Lost on Jeopardy, Baby" Part I
B"H
I was on Jeopardy a couple of weeks ago, but the taping was back in November. Back then, I started writing about my experiences, while they were fresh in my head, but I wanted to wait until I put it in my blog. So here is my first installment:
It’s currently November 13, 2008. I can’t put this on-line yet, but I want to get my thoughts down about my Jeopardy experience. I can’t put anything on-line about it until after the show I was on airs.
I should probably begin at the beginning. I’ve wanted to be on Jeopardy since I was a little girl. They didn’t have teen and pre-teen and college tournaments when I was in that age group, so I was never able to do one of those tournaments.
The show started off in NY (which I live near), but like just about all TV/Movie and similar things (sports teams????), they moved to California (Los Angeles in this case). So up until recently, the only way you could try out for Jeopardy (at least since I was old enough to be a contestant) was to go to California. Finances being what they are (like non-existent????) I never had been to California. So being on Jeopardy seemed like a faded dream.
They did once have a tryout in Atlantic City, so my Mom and I went down to AC and tried out. But since it was a 10-question test (and you needed 7 correct out of 10 to be considered) it was hard to pass.
But a few years ago, hope was restored! First of all, Jeopardy had changed its policy of scoring so that everyone who was on the program was guaranteed $1000. Secondly, they began to offer an on-line qualifying test. This was the 50-question test that they used to qualify people.
The first time I heard about the on-line test, I tried to take it but because I have dial-up internet service I wasn’t able to get set up fast enough and I missed taking the test. The second time I heard about the test I got on-line earlier, set up fast enough and took the test.
You don’t know how you did on the test. They tell you that only some of the people who pass are called in for an interview. So I figured I would never hear anything. But……
I got a letter (or was it a card? I was so excited I don’t even remember) saying that I should go to NY for an interview for Jeopardy. It was on a Friday in June at 9 o’clock in the morning. And it was a Friday that my Mom (who I usually do these things with) would be in Israel. This meant several things: 1) I would have to go on a Friday (a day that I usually devote to getting ready for Shabbat – the Sabbath) 2) I would have to get up at an unG-dly hour in the morning (to me, anything before 8:30 am is unG-dly) – something like 6 in the morning (usually, if I’m up at 6 in the morning it’s only because I haven’t gone to sleep yet, and this happens more often than you might expect) 3) I would have to go ALONE (something I rarely do).
But, just to show how much Jeopardy means to me, I managed to do this. I even got into bed the night before around 10 pm (the only way I’m in bed by 10 pm is if I’m sick or I just came back from Israel the day after staying up all night to see the Giants in the Super Bowl that starts in Israel at about 1:30 in the morning, but I digress).
Tune in again for the continuing story of a regular person who's taken her first step along the Game Show Road.
Check out my squidoo lenses (articles):
Strong Biblical Women
Strong Biblical Women 2
Why Be Vegetarian
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2
Rosh Hashana
Quick Vegan Cooking
Creating new recipes from old
Strong Biblical Women Part 3
Hanuka
About the Jewish Calendar
Witches and Morality
Presidential Trivia Quiz
Christmas and the Jewish Single
Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions
Presidents1: George Washington
Passover: Holiday of Freedom
Ruth and Naomi
John and John Quincy Adams
Television Trivia Quiz
Tamar -- Mother of Kings
Jewish Perspective of G-d
Why I'm a Red Sox Fan
Check out my other blogs:
Jewish Sandwich
Jewish Singles
Strong Jewish Women
Israel and its place in the world
Bayit and Garden
Check out my other merchandise:
Other merchandise
Ties, Shoes, etc. on Zazzle
I was on Jeopardy a couple of weeks ago, but the taping was back in November. Back then, I started writing about my experiences, while they were fresh in my head, but I wanted to wait until I put it in my blog. So here is my first installment:
It’s currently November 13, 2008. I can’t put this on-line yet, but I want to get my thoughts down about my Jeopardy experience. I can’t put anything on-line about it until after the show I was on airs.
I should probably begin at the beginning. I’ve wanted to be on Jeopardy since I was a little girl. They didn’t have teen and pre-teen and college tournaments when I was in that age group, so I was never able to do one of those tournaments.
The show started off in NY (which I live near), but like just about all TV/Movie and similar things (sports teams????), they moved to California (Los Angeles in this case). So up until recently, the only way you could try out for Jeopardy (at least since I was old enough to be a contestant) was to go to California. Finances being what they are (like non-existent????) I never had been to California. So being on Jeopardy seemed like a faded dream.
They did once have a tryout in Atlantic City, so my Mom and I went down to AC and tried out. But since it was a 10-question test (and you needed 7 correct out of 10 to be considered) it was hard to pass.
But a few years ago, hope was restored! First of all, Jeopardy had changed its policy of scoring so that everyone who was on the program was guaranteed $1000. Secondly, they began to offer an on-line qualifying test. This was the 50-question test that they used to qualify people.
The first time I heard about the on-line test, I tried to take it but because I have dial-up internet service I wasn’t able to get set up fast enough and I missed taking the test. The second time I heard about the test I got on-line earlier, set up fast enough and took the test.
You don’t know how you did on the test. They tell you that only some of the people who pass are called in for an interview. So I figured I would never hear anything. But……
I got a letter (or was it a card? I was so excited I don’t even remember) saying that I should go to NY for an interview for Jeopardy. It was on a Friday in June at 9 o’clock in the morning. And it was a Friday that my Mom (who I usually do these things with) would be in Israel. This meant several things: 1) I would have to go on a Friday (a day that I usually devote to getting ready for Shabbat – the Sabbath) 2) I would have to get up at an unG-dly hour in the morning (to me, anything before 8:30 am is unG-dly) – something like 6 in the morning (usually, if I’m up at 6 in the morning it’s only because I haven’t gone to sleep yet, and this happens more often than you might expect) 3) I would have to go ALONE (something I rarely do).
But, just to show how much Jeopardy means to me, I managed to do this. I even got into bed the night before around 10 pm (the only way I’m in bed by 10 pm is if I’m sick or I just came back from Israel the day after staying up all night to see the Giants in the Super Bowl that starts in Israel at about 1:30 in the morning, but I digress).
Tune in again for the continuing story of a regular person who's taken her first step along the Game Show Road.
Check out my squidoo lenses (articles):
Strong Biblical Women
Strong Biblical Women 2
Why Be Vegetarian
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2
Rosh Hashana
Quick Vegan Cooking
Creating new recipes from old
Strong Biblical Women Part 3
Hanuka
About the Jewish Calendar
Witches and Morality
Presidential Trivia Quiz
Christmas and the Jewish Single
Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions
Presidents1: George Washington
Passover: Holiday of Freedom
Ruth and Naomi
John and John Quincy Adams
Television Trivia Quiz
Tamar -- Mother of Kings
Jewish Perspective of G-d
Why I'm a Red Sox Fan
Check out my other blogs:
Jewish Sandwich
Jewish Singles
Strong Jewish Women
Israel and its place in the world
Bayit and Garden
Check out my other merchandise:
Other merchandise
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Monday, January 19, 2009
"Why can't Americans learn to speak???"
B"H
My Mom and I are always annoyed when we see a specific commercial. It's one from one of those scooter companies, the ones that help people who are unable to walk on their own. This one talks about a woman who is, "limited by (sic) her mobility".
Every time we hear this commercial we yell at the screen, "you can be 'limited in your mobility' or you can be 'limited by you lack of mobility' but you can't be limited 'by your mobility'."
This is not the only problem I have with Americans and their grammar, usage and general speech. One of the phrasings that bothers me the most is misuse of the word lay. Lay means put. If you can't say "put" you can't say "lay". For example, since you can't say "I'm going to put down" you can't say "I'm going to lay down". What you probably mean in this case is lie down. Lie means recline.
I suppose the tripping point in this word maze is that the past tense of lay is laid (as is the past participle) but the past tense of lie is lay (and the past participle is lain). In other words, while you ought not to say "I'm going to lay down now" you would be correct to say "yesterday, I lay in my bed" (just as you could say "yesterday, I reclined in my bed").
Lay does have a use (in the present tense). You should, for example, say "I'm going to lay my coat down on that chair" (just as you could say "I'm going to put that coat down on that chair").
Yes, I understand that an awful lot of people misuse lay. And I really don't know why it bothers me so much. It shouldn't annoy me so much, nor should it bother me when people say, "between you and I" instead of "between you and me". Yes, Virginia, there is a use for objective case pronouns (me, him, her, us, them).
Check out my squidoo lenses (articles):
Strong Biblical Women
Strong Biblical Women 2
Why Be Vegetarian
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2
Rosh Hashana
Quick Vegan Cooking
Creating new recipes from old
Strong Biblical Women Part 3
Hanuka
About the Jewish Calendar
Witches and Morality
Presidential Trivia Quiz
Christmas and the Jewish Single
Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions
Presidents1: George Washington
Passover: Holiday of Freedom
Ruth and Naomi
John and John Quincy Adams
Television Trivia Quiz
Tamar -- Mother of Kings
Jewish Perspective of G-d
Why I'm a Red Sox Fan
Check out my other blogs:
Jewish Sandwich
Jewish Singles
Strong Jewish Women
Israel and its place in the world
Bayit and Garden
Check out my other merchandise:
Other merchandise
Ties, Shoes, etc. on Zazzle
My Mom and I are always annoyed when we see a specific commercial. It's one from one of those scooter companies, the ones that help people who are unable to walk on their own. This one talks about a woman who is, "limited by (sic) her mobility".
Every time we hear this commercial we yell at the screen, "you can be 'limited in your mobility' or you can be 'limited by you lack of mobility' but you can't be limited 'by your mobility'."
This is not the only problem I have with Americans and their grammar, usage and general speech. One of the phrasings that bothers me the most is misuse of the word lay. Lay means put. If you can't say "put" you can't say "lay". For example, since you can't say "I'm going to put down" you can't say "I'm going to lay down". What you probably mean in this case is lie down. Lie means recline.
I suppose the tripping point in this word maze is that the past tense of lay is laid (as is the past participle) but the past tense of lie is lay (and the past participle is lain). In other words, while you ought not to say "I'm going to lay down now" you would be correct to say "yesterday, I lay in my bed" (just as you could say "yesterday, I reclined in my bed").
Lay does have a use (in the present tense). You should, for example, say "I'm going to lay my coat down on that chair" (just as you could say "I'm going to put that coat down on that chair").
Yes, I understand that an awful lot of people misuse lay. And I really don't know why it bothers me so much. It shouldn't annoy me so much, nor should it bother me when people say, "between you and I" instead of "between you and me". Yes, Virginia, there is a use for objective case pronouns (me, him, her, us, them).
Check out my squidoo lenses (articles):
Strong Biblical Women
Strong Biblical Women 2
Why Be Vegetarian
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 1
Vegetarianism: Getting Started 2
Rosh Hashana
Quick Vegan Cooking
Creating new recipes from old
Strong Biblical Women Part 3
Hanuka
About the Jewish Calendar
Witches and Morality
Presidential Trivia Quiz
Christmas and the Jewish Single
Math Hints 1 -- Adding Fractions
Presidents1: George Washington
Passover: Holiday of Freedom
Ruth and Naomi
John and John Quincy Adams
Television Trivia Quiz
Tamar -- Mother of Kings
Jewish Perspective of G-d
Why I'm a Red Sox Fan
Check out my other blogs:
Jewish Sandwich
Jewish Singles
Strong Jewish Women
Israel and its place in the world
Bayit and Garden
Check out my other merchandise:
Other merchandise
Ties, Shoes, etc. on Zazzle
Saturday, December 13, 2008
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