Ok, so I've been reading for quite a while about how good a steak is
when it's seared in a hot cast iron skillet. On "Good Eats", Alton
Brown says to preheat the skillet in a 500 degree oven, then place the
skillet on the range top and sear the steak for 30 seconds.

I tried this last night. But because of a pie being in the oven, I
wasn't able to preheat that way, so I turned the electric rangetop
burner to HIGH and let the skillet preheat for about 20 minutes. It
got hot to where I couldn't hold my hand above the skillet for more
than a few seconds, and the skillet took on a gray ash-like appearance.
I dropped my room-temperature, safflower-oiled steak in the skillet,
filled my house with smoke, and ended up with only a very minimal
seared crust - and I seared it for at least 1-2 minutes per side.

Am I still not getting the skillet hot enough? (And how do people
actually do this indoors without getting a housefull of smoke?!)

I've tried various heating methods outdoors to avoid the smoke issue,
and nothing seems to get it nearly hot enough... I've tried a hot
plate, my propane grill, the heating element in my electric smoker, and
even a bed of hot campfire coals, and these methods all required
several minutes of searing to produce only a barely discernable sear.
The best skillet sear I've been able to achieve thus far is using my
electric range top indoors, which obviously is a mistake due to the
smoke... and yet none of these methods have produced as good of a
sear/char as what I can accomplish by just throwing the steak directly
on my propane grill and letting it go hog wild for a few minutes per
side (flames about 2 feet high will make a nice char crust, although
it's probably carcinogenic but it sure tastes good)

Any suggestions on what I'm doing wrong with the pan searing? thanks
in advance......