Yep, actually seeing them in person really threw into sharp relief how unrealistic my grandiose engineering ideas were. I still can't help but have a gut feeling that there ought to be a better way, but I have been cured of the arrogance to believe that I have any clue what that way is.
Damn, user, that sucks. Sorry to hear that. The only thing that immediately comes to mind is maybe writing advertising copy. There's "mechanical turk" stuff, maybe, but I don't know as that pays well enough to really be worth your time. What skills do you have?
