Is it that time of the year already? 2010 has absolutely flown by! One of my favorite ways to reflect on the past year is to look back on it through the photos I've taken. See previously, my photographic year in reviews for 2009, 2008, and 2007.

One thing I find particularly striking is that I've used my iPhone and Canon S90 more and more, and my DSLR significantly less. It kind of bums me out. Something I'd like to refocus on in 2011 is getting back into using my DSLR!

Anyway, let the review begin!

January 2010

We started the year off by seeing a friend's brother make a guest appearance during a Beats Antique show at the Independent in San Francisco. (If you haven't heard them, do check it out. Some great tunes and a good show featuring some interesting interpretive dance!)

We also got to dog-sit for our friends Scott and Marcie. Can you say cutest dog ever?

Of course, our cats would have something to say about that. Jealous, much?

More music, please! State Radio (one of my favorites) at the Fillmore.

Also, San Francisco can have some seriously great weather, even in January! Hello, colors!

The cats were always demanding attention. This was fun to wake up to.

February 2010

Overall, a pretty mellow month! I did finally get a chance to go out and use my DSLR. A new sculpture was put up at Patricia's Green in Hayes Valley.

It's only February, and I already feel live I've been taking an overwhelming amount of cat photos.

Shot some things for my friends hosting BarBot 2010. (You can also see a video I shot of this thing in action.)

March 2010

I got a new bike! Hello, beautiful!

Traveled to Austin for SXSW and gdgt live in Austin. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to take many pictures. But I did snap a photo of this bacon bloody mary. Umm, yes!

Returned to the Left Coast to spot this crazy art car in the neighborhood.

Doggie Diner Heads at the Laughing Squid going away party.

Bonfires on Ocean Beach!

April 2010

Waited in line early in the morning for the iPad launch. An AP photographer snapped this photo as I picked up an iPad for the first time ever.

Might as well put the iPad to use -- banana bread baking!

Explored the SF Underground Farmers' Market. Pretty damn crazy!

Random trip to Southern California, where I stopped by Galco's Soda Pop Shop. Crazy amounts of soda! Check out my post on Laughing Squid.

Stopped by my parents' place and got to see Axl. It would be the last time I'd ever see him.

May 2010

My old-roommate Julie celebrated her engagement with her new fiance, Ryan. A mighty fine looking couple!

And because of this, Kerry and I got to play dress up!

Also, Bacon Camp! Went to support my friends on the Starvin Marvins BBQ team!

And here are the tasty, tasty MOINK balls they made.

Another gdgt event! This time, we visited Chicago -- where I decided to use my phone to take crappy pictures with crappy toy camera apps.

gdgt live in Chicago was fun though!

June 2010

June rolls around -- it's WWDC time in San Francisco, and that means a new iPhone is coming out!

So, of course I was there for the Stevenote on behalf of gdgt. Hey, Steve!

Later that month, I hung out with the Starvin Marvins team again as they went to a BBQ competition.

Huh, it seems like I haven't taken cat photos in awhile. Time to fix that.

New iPhone 4 finally arrived. I hear it has a pretty good camera. Time to test it out.

Also, the World Cup was going on! So, obviously we had friends over and it was time to cheer on the Red, White, and Blue. (Of course, Sanjin shows up in a Croatia jersey, but I guess it's the thought that counts.)

Speaking of Sanjin, he got married!

July 2010

Needed to get away from the oppressive fog in the city, so we ventured up to Point Reyes, for a day of oyster shucking.

We also got ourselves a new office! No more working out of our apartments. Pretty nice. A photo from the early days.

August 2010

Camping trip season! I discovered a creepily familiar Paul Bunyan.

Sitting around a campfire...

Canoeing!

More canoeing!

And back to the city and dealing with our transit system.

I love the F line.

And another Apple event soon approaches...

September 2010

Another Apple keynote. iPods, Apple TV's, oh my!

We went out to Sacramento to surprise and cheer on our friends in Starvin Marvins at another BBQ competition.

They won second place for their chicken!

gdgt live in Boston! This time, I'm flying out early, so I can check some things out.

MIT

Near MIT - Kendell Square

Who met the Tron Guy? This guy!

October 2010

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival arrives in town. I can't think of a better way to spend a foggy day in the park.

It's October. Do you know what that means? Hear that sound? "It's the sound of freedom." This time, I rented a gigantic, 400mm lens for the Blue Angels' show.

There were also some pretty crazy clouds in San Francisco.

Also, a street food bonanza was happening at Off the Grid.

Working across the street from Blue Bottle Coffee was proving to be dangerous.

Kerry took me on a surprise visit to the Napa Valley Wine Train.

This thing called a World Series happened in San Francisco. Since I'm a Dodgers' fan, I have no idea what that is.

San Francisco kept looking mighty fine, as always.

November 2010

Party in the streets, as the Giants would go on to win the World Series.

An election happened...

City Hall was bathed in orange for the Giants win.

A World Series parade...

Aubrey Huff wears his "rally thong."

It was homecoming (for gdgt). gdgt live in San Francisco preparation resulted in tons of boxes in our office.

I don't care what people think, I still love dogs.

Quick stop in Southern California for a wedding in Laguna Beach.

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Returned to San Francisco to find this nearby. Someone had a rough night.

I also began my transition from a hipster into a yuppy.

December 2010

What can we say about December? It's rained a lot.

My dentist apparently has a crush on me.

Prepping for some awesome things in the 2011. It results in late nights at the office.

(And the month isn't even over, yet!)

This was a screenshot taken from my phone after running a speed test in San Francisco's Financial District today. Pathetic.

"If the Giants win the World Series, I'll give you this hat."

I was 7 years old and we were on a family camping trip with parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins in Southern California. Really, it was more like pseudo-camping -- there were motorhomes and such involved, but all the kids got to sleep in tents.

It was a Saturday night in October of 1989 and the San Francisco Giants were playing against the Chicago Cubs in the third game of the National League Championship series. The series was tied at one game a piece.

Someone had a television on in their motorhome and had turned it around so those of us on nearby picnic tables could watch. Since we all had grown up or lived in Southern California, I don't think anyone there was entirely interested in the game -- my cousins were California Angels fans and I had decided to like the Los Angeles Dodgers. The game was probably on more for background noise.

One of my uncles was wearing a Giants hat that evening. I don't think he really cared for the Giants, or even liked baseball for that matter. But for some reason, he was still wearing it.

I remember my initial impressions of the hat though. It looked absolutely sinister! Maybe it a combination of the colors (black and orange) and the fact that it was October and Halloween was approaching. But I think I kind of loved it.

So, my uncle made me an offer. If the Giants went on to win the World Series, he would give me his hat.

I thought it was an awesome deal!

Unbeknownst to me at the time, my recent newfound love of baseball and the responsibilities of being a Los Angeles Dodgers fan (who had won the World Series the year prior) would be diametrically opposed to everything related to that sinister looking hat.

The Giants would eventually go on to play against the Oakland Atheletics in the 1989 World Series, famous for two things: the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake occurred during the middle of the series and the fact that the Giants would be swept by the Athletics in four games.

A few months later, during a family Christmas party, I saw my uncle and remembered that sinister looking hat. For some reason, it still tugged at my heart. I asked him what he did with it.

"Oh, that thing? I threw it away."

And just like that, I threw away the chance for me to ever become a Giants fan.

My love for the Dodgers would continue to blossom, and when I eventually moved to San Francisco 15 years later, it would be one of the few things besides my friends and family that I would still stubbornly cling to that were from Southern California.

I love living here in San Francisco. However, when I see that hat, I still think it looks sinister. But now it's for different, more nefarious, and even loathsome reasons.

Here are some photos I shot during yesterday's air show practice for Fleet Week 2010 here in San Francisco. For this year's show, I rented a gigantic 400mm lens from BorrowLenses.com. You can see the full set here.

How crazy was this 400mm lens? Check out this photo of myself and Marcie Lynn (a fantastic Bay Area photographer).

photo by Scott Johnston

It's Fleet Week 2010 here in San Francisco. And so begins four days of jets flying over San Francisco, to the excitement of some and the ire of others!

I took this photo from the top of our office building in SOMA today with a Nikkor 400mm f/2.8 lens. The thing weighs more than I do.

Looking forward to scoring some more ridiculous shots with it.

Where Muni turnstiles go to die..., originally uploaded by Dave Schumaker.

SF Muni is in the process of upgrading the turnstiles in all their underground stations. Here, a pile of old turnstiles sits abandoned in a corner of Powell Station.

Interestingly enough, while taking this photo, the newly installed turnstiles (which have weird, automatic gates) were out of order.

Decided to try and tackle Paradise Loop today. By far the longest cycling ride I've yet gone on. 45 miles later, I'm ready to pass out.

Here's the route as recorded by Runmeter on my iPhone 4.

Here are some of the raw statistics output from Runmeter:

Ride Time: 4:46:04 Stopped Time: 23:23 Distance: 45.41 miles Average: 9.52 miles/h Fastest Speed: 28.06 miles/h Climb: 1916 feet Calories: 2272

A little slower than I'd like, but hey! There were some hills toward the end of the ride (coming out of Sausalito and approaching the Golden Gate Bridge) that were rough for me to deal with. Made it though!

Now, every joint in my body is sore.

Finally, here are a few photos from the ride.

Last night's explosion of a PG&E natural gas line in San Bruno was a horrifying experience. One can't imagine what that must be like to lose your home, possessions, memories, and potentially even family in a heartbeat.

In addition to the sad news from San Bruno, this morning, there was news of minor explosion in a PG&E vault in San Francisco.

Another one?

Let's take a stroll through recent history of vault explosions in San Francisco.

Vault fire at Polk and O'Farrell in June 2009

Aug 2005 - Vault explosion at Post and Kearny Jun 2008 - Underground explosion shakes SF Financial District Jun 2009 - Underground explosion at Polk and O'Farrell Jul 2009 - Underground explosion at 4th and Market Jan 2010 - Underground vault fire at Geary and Jones Jun 2010 - Vault explosion in Pac Heights Sep 2010 - Vault fire at Sutter and MontgomeryMar 2011 - Underground Explosion Closes Post And Grant

After the explosion in 2005, PG&E decided to check all 550 underground vaults in San Francisco. Check out this article from the SF Chronicle. Sounds like they did a great job.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. will begin inspecting about 550 underground electric vaults in San Francisco today following a power transformer explosion last week that critically injured a woman. According to company officials, the inspection is expected to take five weeks and will focus first on 150 transformers that have not been inspected this year. An explosion in an underground vault at Post and Kearny streets Friday shot a tower of flame into the air, blowing a manhole cover 30 feet, burning a pedestrian and setting the awnings of the Polo Ralph Lauren store on fire.

(I took the above photo today at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts -- I love Lightroom 3!)

We'll be there, covering it live. Follow along at gdgt on Wednesday at 10AM Pacific.

Don't get me wrong. I complain about the weather as much as anyone else, but the tweets flowing from my fellow San Francisco citizens in the past few days are kind of amazing in both quantity and content.

A few from my friends.