I found two handy posts about using the WP8 emulator.
Starting the WP8 emulator without going through Visual Studio.
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/18173.how-to-launch-windows-phone-8-emulator-without-using-visual-studio-2012.aspx
Using the keyboard on your computer with the WP8 emulator.
Note that it’s opposite depending on whether you’re using WP7 or WP8 (WP8 is page down).
http://aceontech.com/2013/04/08/how-to-use-your-computers-keyboard-with-the-windows-phone-emulators/