Cooking in cast iron

This morning a 25% coupon showed up in my mail box for...
Lodge Logic cast iron skillets from World Market! (As a World Market Explorer member I receive emailed offers; you can sign up here. I do it for the occasional wine discount.)
I would love to run out and buy a skillet, but I really need* a whole set of cast iron. My only cast iron pot is an enormous dutch oven. In a perfect world I would also have a smaller dutch oven, three high-sided skillets in various sizes (WITH LIDS), and a saucepan.
I have not made these purchases because cast iron is hard to find and expensive, and it's not a need right now. We have a set of pots and pans which has the unique ability to burn everything placed inside, yet takes an hour to boil water thanks to crappy heat dispersion, all while super-heating the handle to the detriment of the chef. Once these pans bite the dust (one handle is partially detached; another pan has developed an odd dark silver crust that scares me), I will start buying cast iron. It's my cookware of choice, and here is why:
- It retains and conducts heat so well that you can use less energy (I turn my stove off a few minutes before food is cooked).
- It cooks evenly and browns perfectly
- It is naturally non-stick
- You shouldn't put it in the dishwasher, but stuck food slides easily off a well-seasoned surface.
- If you end up eating a little pan (we all do at some point), you just got your daily dose of iron - not your daily dose of toxic copper or Teflon.
- It is safe for stove, oven, and fire (and honestly you CAN put it in the dishwasher if you have to).
- It is low-maintenance. Despite complex info on "curing" or "seasoning" your cast iron, most pots will regularly cure themselves, simply from normal use (but do cure a new pan at least once and never cure with oil, always solid fat).
- It looks hard-core and awesome as a serving dish.
- It's resilient and tough. My parents bought cast iron when they got married and I learned to cook with it. It's still in use at their house over 30 years and nine kids after it was purchased!
Are you a cast-iron fan? What are you cooking in these days? And don't say microwaveable tupperware or I'll openly mock you! (J/K)
*strongly desire. And I may have sent a link for some nice pans to the hubby. My birthday is coming up!