We're not claiming to be winos, but Houstonist is just like any other Joe Schmo who likes a good glass of wine. . .or two. Maybe three. That being said, we were more than thrilled to stumble (not literally—that comes afterwards) across Sonoma Wine Bar and Boutique. Okay, so we didn't even bother checking out the "boutique" part, but do you blame us? Even though there was an extensive wine list at our fingertips, we......

::Houston NetSquared Meet Up:: The Houston Chapter of NetSquared returns tonight to kick-off another year of fascinating speakers. The Houston group recently got national props from Social Change advocate, Britt Bravo. Keep up the great work, guys! We are really excited to start the 2008 year with a wonderful guest speaker!! Kelly McCann, longtime advocate and CEO of the AIDS Foundation Houston, Inc., will be speaking about her work promoting AIDS awareness, prevention education. Kelly......

::NetSquared Meet Up: Careflash:: Ever wonder who the rowdy group in the back room at Stag's Head is every 2nd Tuesday of the month? We did, too. So last month we barged in. Ok, we were invited. And we found out where all the big hearted techies have been hiding, at the NetSquared Meetup! The mission of Net2 is to spur responsible adoption of social web tools by social benefit organizations. There's a whole new......

::Social Media & Web 2.0 Happy Hour:: Do you spend more time on Facebook than you do reading a book? Do your sentences end with, "I'm SO Twittering that."? Do you scour the internet begging for invites to Beta testing of new sites? You're not alone. And there is help and support for people like you. Join your kind tonight at Sonoma Wine Bar as Houston's Social Media Community celebrates the season at the Houston......

::OpMom Web 2.0 Launch Party at Benjy's:: Three things we love: Moms, Web 2.0, and Benjy's. Can't go wrong here. And Houstonist has your ticket to this private launch party. Unless you've been living under a Web 1.0 rock, you are probably aware that Houston has recently been a hot bed for Social Media Startups, as Brad Hem reported this weekend. One of these ventures, the locally-based OpMom, tonight celebrates their own jaunt into Web......

Banner week for SFist as the site's new editor introduced himself -- hooray for Brock! While the NY Times weighed in on SF's mayoral race, only SFist had the (insert tongue firmly into cheek) hard-hitting latest on candidate/activist Josh Wolf. Coverage of a protest vs. gentrification spawned a fantastic debate amongst SFist's readers. Finally, from the sublime to the ridiculous: video of a man that confused a Board of Supes meeting with "open mic......

Local tech news in a compact, digital format. After a bit of a hiatus, The Tech Buzz is back. It's not new or improved, just back. iPhone Madness We're not going go too in-depth with the iPhone as it has been covered by just about every major media outlet in the U.S. this past week. What we are going to do is provide you with this link to two local geeks and their reports......

The shot from flickr user and Houstonist photo contributor Laanba. It's a good question and an interesting find. Are you helping humanity? Do hearts over the i's help humanity somehow? If you are interested in helping humanity (at least locally) check out the following sites: Volunteer Houston - All Houston volunteering, all the time. BBB Houston Charity Report - Check before you give. Most charities in Houston do an excellent job of putting most......