This weekend, we saw one of my favorite bands, State Radio, play at the legendary Fillmore in San Francisco. It was my first time seeing them, and it was fantastic.

Here’s the music video for their song, “Gang of Thieves.”

Lately, I’ve been considering picking up a new cast iron skillet for cooking. There’s a few reasons that have made me interested in owning one. Their durability, versatility, and even potential health benefits (source of iron!). I stumbled across an article on Lifehacker recently, talking about properly seasoning your skillet. This made me even more interested!

Earlier today, we stopped by a local hardware store and picked up a 12″ skillet.

Of course, we had to immediately break it in! So we cooked a 5-spice apple stir fry. It was a complete success.

Here’s to even more cooking adventures with our new cooking tool. I’m excited to try and make a deep dish pizza with it!

Photo via the United Nations photo stream on flickr.

The latest news and the images coming out of Haiti are absolutely tragic and indescribable. My heart goes out to those affected by the earthquake. I wish there was more that we could do. For now the best thing to do is donate toward the relief and recovery efforts. Google also has a pretty comprehensive page for Haitian disaster relief.

You can see some of the latest images from Port-au-Prince here (via flickr).

Photo via U.S. Department of Defense on flickr.

Photo via U.S. Air Force on flickr.

The Canon PowerShot S90 is by far the most versatile and impressive point and shoot digital camera that I’ve ever used. From manual controls, to impressive image and build quality, this consumer camera has all the bases covered. It’s not without a few minor issues, but it definitely offers many features that are not yet standard on similarly priced point and shoot cameras.

What do you get when you open up the box for the S90? A pocket-size camera with built-in image stabilization, macro mode, ability to shoot VGA video, a 3.8x zoom lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.0, the ability to shoot images in RAW format, support for SDHC cards, maximum ISO of 3200 (and ISO 12800 in a special mode), and a large 3-inch screen.

You can also read this entire review on gdgt.
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Tosh just doesn’t want to seem to leave me alone today! He thinks that I actually like cats.

This series of screenshots is only from the past month! This happens all the time though. AT&T is horrible.

Another year has closed, and once again, San Francisco photographer Jim Goldstein is calling for your top photos taken this year! It’s always a blast to participate in and review some of my favorite shots taken over the past year.

You can also see my best photos from 2008.

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Protestors gather at Civic Center in San Francisco on January 12, 2008 to protest the shooting death of Oscar Grant by a BART police officer on New Years Eve.

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Buzz, a friendly elephant seal pup that we encountered while backpacking along California’s Lost Coast.

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While traveling through Canada this past summer, we took a gondola ride near Banff. The first part of the ride was enveloped in fog. Right after we broke through, I stuck my DSLR out the window (yikes!) and captured this shot!

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Visited Seattle for the first time this summer as well and took this shot at the foot of the Space Needle.

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Steve Jobs made his return to Apple, after being sidelined with health problems. It was my first time attending an Apple keynote / Stevenote and the first time seeing Steve Jobs in person. Shot photos for gdgt. Definitely a moment that will stick with me for a long time.

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The Blue Angels always provide fantastic opportunities for shooting photos. I took this photo as Blue Angel #7 screamed right over the top of our apartment building.

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In March, the California Supreme Court ruled on the validity of Prop 8 (and made the unfortunate decision to uphold it). I took this photo and thought it represented a nearly perfect representation of each side (literally, metaphorically, politically). Two people on the left, in love and making a point about equal rights. On the right, an older white gentleman, holding up a sign in support of Prop 8.

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Robogames 2009 at Fort Mason in San Francisco. Two competitors chat after a battle and examine the damage inflicted upon their robots.

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A second photo from Robogames 2009. A competitor cheers in victory after his robot scores a critical hit on an opponent.

The latest in single serving websites: It’s twenty-ten, not two-thousand ten.

Last night, we checked out Beats Antique (also on Last.fm) at the Independent. They’re a pretty awesome fusion of electronic music with a middle eastern bent. Pretty awesome stuff! I love this sort of ambient music as it makes perfect background music for working and such!

They also feature belly dancers during their live performances, who move in sync to their music. Here is a video recorded from the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco last year.