2010 has been a very busy year for me as many of you know. Those of you that follow me on Twitter and Facebook have been getting the play by play while the blog has sat dormant for most of 2010 until now. But there was a lot that kept me away.

I found out I was going to be a father and then in August of last year, my beautiful baby daughter, Alexis, came into the world. Yes, she does have a Twitter Account, naturally. I’m changing a lot of diapers these days and that’s in addition to my day to day duties running Futurelooks.  Around the same time she came into the world, we also had to deal with the tragic loss of her grandmother, her mom’s mom, who finally succumbed to cancer.

Before that, I was leaving my pregnant wife, who at the time, could have actually popped at anytime, and headed off to COMPUTEX in Taipei. Thankfully, Alexis didn’t pop out while I was in Taipei. Those of you on Twitter seemed to enjoy my never ending stream of pics and short messages about where I was and what I was seeing in one of the coolest cities in the world.

Luckily, we’ve been taken care of by a company called EZP.NET that specializes in FAST, FINELY TUNED and RELIABLE web hosting. The best part of this is that he’s basically my neighbour. I really owe Shane and his team for bailing us out.

Yes, this past year has been full of life altering experiences. And for 2011 I’m hoping that I’ll be able to share a lot more as I’ve made a promise to start updating my blog again right after CES 2011 which I can’t believe ended just a little over a week ago. It was definitely something to blog about as I won the Build Your Own PC Race for Charity which takes place every year. I’ve come in second and fourth before but I’ve never won. What a GREAT way to kick off 2011. The best part is that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children will get $10,000 US and 30 computers. I’ve got a post coming with some more pics and vids for you to enjoy a bit later.

I really hope the momentum keeps going for the rest of 2011 as I work on bringing Futurelooks back to its former glory and begin plans to kick MEGATechNews into high gear. My little side project will finally get the funding it needs and will have the talents of the formerly non-committal, freelancing writer, Michael Kwan, at the helm. Yes, his life is about to change too in 2011. Let’s just say he liked it so he put a ring on it

Well, enough rambling from me. What’s up with everyone for 2011? Let me know what’s happening!

The package was stacked five tiers tall and held together with an elaborate bow. It was like one of those fancy wedding cakes. The bow was topped off with a snowflake encrusted with sparkles. I know that ASUS has been experimenting with the unboxing experience with some of their products but nothing this elaborate. Could it be a prototype EeePC or maybe a new media player, cellphone or piece of hardware? I was excited.

I took the bow off and saw that it consisted of five boxes of different sizes. I was leaning towards it being a new cellphone because obviously we need boxes for a charger, case and probably other accessories. Since BC is cracking down on driving and cellphone use, maybe it was an assortment of ASUS’ latest cellphone gadgets?

I started with the smallest box and found some chocolates inside from Cheryl&Co, makers of high end gourmet brownies, cakes and fancy cookies, including seasonal cut-out cookies topped with a signature buttercream frosting. So of course, being me, I eat them and move on. But as I moved on, it revealed more and more tasty treats from Cheryl&Co but no gadgets. Hmm…

So here I am surrounded by some tasty treats. In fact, a quick look at the Cheryl&Co website revealed that this little slice of dessert/cookie heaven was in the $49 buck price range. This definitely isn’t your typical COSTCO gift box of miscellaneous Xmas biscuits. Since I’m a bit of a connoisseur of all things edible I have to say that I’m quite taken back by just how tasty these high end treats are. Someone from ASUS was definitely reading my blog and knew how to butter up this Editor In Chief. More pics of this gift pack after the jump if you have a huge sweet tooth like me.

So as I’m sitting here stuffing my face with cookies, I’d like to take this chance to wish everyone Happy Holidays and  I hope that all your Xmas Wishes come true. Now go make me proud and demolish that Xmas Turkey, Stuffing and Ham

Coming out on August 13th, “Kung Fu Cyborg” lacks the massive “WTF sometimes” spectacle that is a signature of Michael Bay movies. Instead, it replaces it with a story (how novel!), human relationships, romance and comedy with a clearly SciFi twist. So basically Transformers with no Megan Fox, fewer somewhat pointless robot battles and people trying hard to act out a real story instead of a random sequence of events that Michael Bay thought looked cool strung together.

I’m sure we’ll be seeing this one at a Chinese Night Market near you. The badly dubbed English sub titles (or voiceovers) will be worth the entertainment value alone.

So right after the LG Texting Championships, it was time to head to Kam Do so that we could welcome a new member into the Kam Do Mixed Grill Hall of Fame. As you all know, I’m the only member of this club and it’s tough finding anyone to keep up with me. This event would be called the “Kam Do Mixed Grill Feast Fest…umm…Festival”.  At least that’s what John Chow called it which kind of fits seeing as both that name and the event became one big disaster for one Leo Chiang. Let’s check out the highlights in glorious HD!

After enthusiastically decreeing that he would finish this massive meal for immortal men, Leo went out a little too fast, trying to outpace me, making the going tougher than it should have been. As they say in Fast and Furious: Too soon junior. That’s why I never called this a contest because if this was for speed, we’d both be outside puking it all up before the half way mark.

The Kam Do Mixed Grill Challenge requires patience and strategy in order to get the job done. This has served me well for the three times that I’ve finished it (counting this time). Unfortunately, Leo was 300ml and a mango pudding away from joining this most prestigious club. Again, I standalone as the only one that has completed it not once…but three times. Is there a monster meal that you swear nobody could finish? I’d like to hear about it!

Yesterday, I headed out to Richmond Center Mall with our favourite background extra, Leo Chiang for the Vancouver stop of the LG Canadian Texting Championships. This special event was put on for local media and a prize of $1000 was put up for grabs. The winner would get to donate it to a charity of their choice. Also competing was John Chow, Buzz Bishop from Virgin 953 and April Smith from Aha Media. Check out the video below for a taste of the excitement:

Our friend Buzz Bishop returned to win this year’s event with a time of 13:454. The fastest time in Canada was 5:67 so it’s like being the best of the worst. But then again, a win is a win and LG owes Buzz a 10 second car…or that check for $1000 to his charity which is Team Diabetes. Here are the official results from the Vancouver Stop…

As Leo said, he also came to challenge for a spot in the Kam Do Mixed Grill Challenge Hall of Fame. It is true, I am the only one of the Dot Com Pho Crew that has survived and conquered this meal not only once, but twice. Stay tuned for the video to find out whether or not Leo lives or dies.