2. Moving to Washington, DC to go to grad school!

I'm rather pleased that several of you were thinking #3. (moving to NY) or #4. (freelance food writing) were in my future though! Maybe once I'm done with grad school ;-)

For those of you who did choose #4, I've actually got a blog in the works at jaxiecracks.blogspot.com where I'm hoping to integrate my food and traveling adventures with my impending graduate studies. There's nothing up yet, but I hope you'll join me there once I build it out!

And finally, one last picture to close out my time here:



Thanks for all your support everyone! Keep on truckin'!

Dearest TV.com users,

After two and a half years exchanging PMs, forum posts, and blog comments with y'all, it's time for me to bow out. This Friday, June 26th, will be my last day as Community Producer for TV.com.

It's been a long, strange road in getting here. In this, my first "real" job, I learned so much through the bumps and triumphs (oh and this one) alike: about working for a large corporation, about working for an internet site, and about the idiosyncratic aspects of both that only apply to TV.com and make this the unique place that it is. All of you have contributed to making this a memorable and formative experience, and for that, I heartily thank you.

While my life will be changing dramatically in the next few months (more on that in a bit), life on TV.com will carry on as usual. All the mods whose awesome support keeps the wheels turning when we as staff can't be everywhere, are, as always, here to answer your questions or to guide you in the right direction. Danmod and nilla_chelle01 continue to be here as full-time staff, and you already know how awesome they are. They've contributed to my time here in innumerable ways, and I would be remiss to not acknowledge my gratitude to them publicly. Danmod and nilla, THANK YOU!

As for my plans... well, let's have a last little bit of fun, shall we? Where do YOU think I'm headed next?

1. Moving to LA to work for Hulu.
2. Moving to Washington, DC to go to grad school.
3. Moving to New York to work for a media non-profit.
4. Traveling wherever my passport will take me as a freelance food writer to gorge on delicious food to my heart's (and stomach's) content.
5. Technical glitch erases my existence on TV.com. They've filed a bug and will be working on reinstating me when they can. In the meantime, I will bide my time neither here nor there.

Let me know what you think I'm doing next, then check back on Friday for the real answer!

Thanks for welcoming me into this world known as TV.com for the past few years. See you around the interwebz!

Thanks for sharing your stories of finding TV.com everyone! It's been interesting to see how most users came for information on a specific show, and then have ended up staying because they found more than they were originally looking for.

Danmod has restored lost level points from the levels freeze a few weeks back -- hurrah! Strangely, however, a very small number of users have since seen their levels drop well below where they should be. If this is the case with your level, please let me know and I'll get it back to normal in a jiffy.

Been wondering lately how people find TV.com. How did *you* find the site?

I am a big, big advocate for vacation time. Whether it's an overnight trip out of town or a month-long escape abroad, sometimes you just need to get away from your usual surroundings and freshen up the brain cells. My mini-hiatus from the world of TV.com -- two weeks in Hong Kong reuniting with my family, eating TONS of food, and a small side trip to a tropical beach resort -- fell somewhere in the middle of the quick getaway/full-blown escape spectrum, and it was just what I needed.

Reuniting with my family anywhere in the world is generally synonymous with eating. Luckily, Hong Kong is a city full of food, from the fancy-schmancy 3.5 hour brunch to the five minute, "dai pai dong" street stall food. Here's a sampling of my sampling of said food:

Dessert platter to round out brunch at Zuma


Some artfully molded mango pudding, part of our dim sum meal


My niece eagerly digging into her bowl of ramen


Drinking lai cha or milk tea at a classic, no frills cha chaan teng (with my favorite, peanut butter french toast in the background)


A taste of the colonial times: high tea at the Mandarin Oriental, complete with three-tiered tea set. Here's a peek at the savouries tier:


I literally scooped up every last drop of the DELICIOUS rose petal jam for my scone... perhaps not the classiest thing to do at high tea, but sooooo good!


Assortment of desserts at a Chinese dessert house. Clockwise from top left, black sesame soup, something I can't remember, steamed egg custard pudding, black sesame balls in ginger soup.


Mos burger. Check out the "rice burger" on the right, thin slices of beef grilled with onions and served on a sticky rice "bun". Kind of like a Japanese rice bowl on the go!


While the trip was more about visiting my family than about playing tourist, I still got some tourist sights in. The boyfriend's and my attempt to get the full impact of seeing Hong Kong from the top of Victoria Peak last year was diminished somewhat by the persistent fog. So this year, my boyfriend and I were discriminating in making sure the weather was mostly clear (though we couldn't completely escape a stubborn haze) before heading up.



We also made the trek out to Lantau Island to visit the Tian Tan buddha, purported to be the largest outdoor bronze seated Buddha sculpture.



Just below the Buddha is a monastery where you can eat a vegetarian (per Buddhist guidelines) lunch. Believe it or not, this is what our table looked like AFTER we had finished. It was a lot of food!


Our visit happened to be around the time of Buddha Day celebrations, which incorporates a bathing the buddha ritual


Finally, after trekking up lots of steep stairs, we made it to the Buddha himself! Go us!


My family also took a side trip to Hainan Island, a tropical island known as the "Hawai'i of China" for its beach resorts and lush greenery. Unfortunately, the H1N1 virus was just taking the world by storm around this time, and we got caught up in some of the extra precautions to prevent the spread of the virus. Upon arrival in China, we had to all sit tight in the airplane while health officials came by and manually took everyone's temperature with an ear thermometer:



Luckily, we (and everyone else on the plane) were pronounced healthy and admittable into China. The following days flew by in a perfect combination of a great hotel (we even got a private swimming pool!),



fun on the beach


and, of course, more food, particularly loads and loads of fresh fruit and juices every day.


All in all, some good family time, good eating, and a great break from the normal grind -- gotta keep those crazies at bay...