Adam appeared on the show April 9th-12th this year. Thanks for reaching out to us, Adam!
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Q: How many times did you try out for the show?
A: Three in-person auditions, and once more before that taking the online test. Cleveland in 2008, DC in 2010, and then Cleveland again in 2012.
Q: I read that you flew out to tape the show on Black Friday. Why did you go so early, since the show doesn't tape til Tuesday?
A: With having the long holiday weekend off, we decided it'd be fun to extend the trip a bit and make an adventure out of it. So, we actually flew out to San Francisco, rented a car, and had a couple days of exploring and driving down the coast.
Coming from the east coast, it was also nice to have a couple of days to de-jet-lag a bit and start to feel a little more human.![:)]( "Smile")
Q: In your third game you bet $5,000 on a pair of Daily Doubles. Was that a matter of just becoming more comfortable with being aggressive at that point?
A: It was a combination of things, I think. The first of the two came up in General Science, which, as an engineer, is right in my wheelhouse. So, I wanted to take advantage of that. I was up $12,800-$6,000 at that point, so I tried to wager an amount that would start to put things out of reach if I was right, but leave me with the lead if I wasn't.
The second one, the game was out of reach by that point, it was only an $800 clue in a category I felt pretty ok about (On the Greek Deity's Resume). I was kind of a Greek mythology geek as a kid. Wanted to be aggressive, but not risk the lock game, and my brain likes round numbers.![:)]( "Smile")
Q: Were there any categories you were excited to see? Where there any you didn't like, and any subject you were glad you didn't see?
A: I talked above about General Science, that was the one that made me happiest for sure.
In my first game, I wasn't particularly excited about either Ballet or Mexican History, though I did end up with a couple of gets in Mexican History. My second game had that horrible Pinterest category that was all about Harold Pinter. My last game had a video category about Hanoi that I don't think any of us were excited about, because we ended up leaving most of it on the board.
The one thing that didn't come up that I wish had is Opera. It's a subject that I used to know nothing about, and studied it into a bit of a strength. And then of course, it came up on the previous taping day with me sitting in the audience silently crushing it.![;)]( "Wink")
Q: I see that you're joining Learned League next season! Cool!
A: Yeah! I think it looks like fun. Do you play? [Jeanie says: Yes I do, as does Andy! He referred me in fact.]
Q: Can you tell us about onewayness?
A: Sure! onewayness is my solo ambient/experimental electronic music project, which I've been involved with on and off since about 2002. I've recorded two full-length albums and about half a dozen EP's, and I play live a lot. I've done about 35 shows this year, everywhere from New York, to St. Louis, to North Carolina. People can check out all my releases (and stream them for free) at onewayness.com.
I'm also involved in a couple other musical projects; I play bass in a band called Basket Eddy, keys and electronics in a free improv group called Triage Unit, and all sorts of instruments in an experimental electronic project called tent(A)cles. Music is definitely the thing that takes up most of my 'spare' time.![:)]( "Smile")
Q: I'm sorry to say that another player surpassed you in the race to the ToC. What do you think of your chances? Are you preparing for it? Did you prepare for your regular-season appearance?
A: Aww, thanks. Carlos is cool, though I'd like him a lot better with about 15,000 less dollars.![;)]( "Wink")
I knew from the start my chances weren't great, I know it's been a number of years since a 3-time champ made the ToC. And at this point, I'm 13th of 15, with a long time left to play, so it looks pretty unlikely. But, hey. It's Jeopardy, anything can happen.
As far as preparing at this point, I'm mostly just watching the show, trying to stay sharp, and taking in whatever I can. For my regular appearance, I definitely used J-Archive more than anything else. Used it to specifically work certain categories, and also played through a LOT of just random games.
Q: Do you have any regrets?
A: Not at all.
A: Three in-person auditions, and once more before that taking the online test. Cleveland in 2008, DC in 2010, and then Cleveland again in 2012.
Q: I read that you flew out to tape the show on Black Friday. Why did you go so early, since the show doesn't tape til Tuesday?
A: With having the long holiday weekend off, we decided it'd be fun to extend the trip a bit and make an adventure out of it. So, we actually flew out to San Francisco, rented a car, and had a couple days of exploring and driving down the coast.
Coming from the east coast, it was also nice to have a couple of days to de-jet-lag a bit and start to feel a little more human.
Q: In your third game you bet $5,000 on a pair of Daily Doubles. Was that a matter of just becoming more comfortable with being aggressive at that point?
A: It was a combination of things, I think. The first of the two came up in General Science, which, as an engineer, is right in my wheelhouse. So, I wanted to take advantage of that. I was up $12,800-$6,000 at that point, so I tried to wager an amount that would start to put things out of reach if I was right, but leave me with the lead if I wasn't.
The second one, the game was out of reach by that point, it was only an $800 clue in a category I felt pretty ok about (On the Greek Deity's Resume). I was kind of a Greek mythology geek as a kid. Wanted to be aggressive, but not risk the lock game, and my brain likes round numbers.
Q: Were there any categories you were excited to see? Where there any you didn't like, and any subject you were glad you didn't see?
A: I talked above about General Science, that was the one that made me happiest for sure.
In my first game, I wasn't particularly excited about either Ballet or Mexican History, though I did end up with a couple of gets in Mexican History. My second game had that horrible Pinterest category that was all about Harold Pinter. My last game had a video category about Hanoi that I don't think any of us were excited about, because we ended up leaving most of it on the board.
The one thing that didn't come up that I wish had is Opera. It's a subject that I used to know nothing about, and studied it into a bit of a strength. And then of course, it came up on the previous taping day with me sitting in the audience silently crushing it.
Q: I see that you're joining Learned League next season! Cool!
A: Yeah! I think it looks like fun. Do you play? [Jeanie says: Yes I do, as does Andy! He referred me in fact.]
Q: Can you tell us about onewayness?
A: Sure! onewayness is my solo ambient/experimental electronic music project, which I've been involved with on and off since about 2002. I've recorded two full-length albums and about half a dozen EP's, and I play live a lot. I've done about 35 shows this year, everywhere from New York, to St. Louis, to North Carolina. People can check out all my releases (and stream them for free) at onewayness.com.
I'm also involved in a couple other musical projects; I play bass in a band called Basket Eddy, keys and electronics in a free improv group called Triage Unit, and all sorts of instruments in an experimental electronic project called tent(A)cles. Music is definitely the thing that takes up most of my 'spare' time.
Q: I'm sorry to say that another player surpassed you in the race to the ToC. What do you think of your chances? Are you preparing for it? Did you prepare for your regular-season appearance?
A: Aww, thanks. Carlos is cool, though I'd like him a lot better with about 15,000 less dollars.
I knew from the start my chances weren't great, I know it's been a number of years since a 3-time champ made the ToC. And at this point, I'm 13th of 15, with a long time left to play, so it looks pretty unlikely. But, hey. It's Jeopardy, anything can happen.
As far as preparing at this point, I'm mostly just watching the show, trying to stay sharp, and taking in whatever I can. For my regular appearance, I definitely used J-Archive more than anything else. Used it to specifically work certain categories, and also played through a LOT of just random games.
Q: Do you have any regrets?
A: Not at all.