Reading in my new Art of Electronics (Pg 22)...

What a week. Carried away by this stuff. My Trimbles arrived, I went back and ordered 1 Oncore, then I drove to Bellevue and bought a Weller soldering station (on sale) and a bunch of capacitors and such...then ordered MAX233s from Jameco....

...then, inspired by your example, I went and sniped a copy of TAoE on eBay for $46+$3 shipping (no workbook, though).

Well, I'm not sure any of this will make me any better at this stuff, but I'm going to try...and perhaps I can impress my friends with the new coffee table book!