Medical school is a great learning experience, and I've enjoyed most of it. There are, however, some significant downsides. Chief among these is extended penury. Some people go to extremes - I remember a few of my classmates selling plasma every two weeks so that they'd have spare money. I'm not afraid of needles (I've donated over 3 gallons of blood), but it's just not worth that.
So I tutor high school students. It's a pretty profitable gig - $40/hr. There's obviously not a gigantic amount of demand at that price, but I have a secret weapon - I'm one of perhaps 2-3 people in the city who tutor physics and calculus. Physics has always been my bread and butter, though I've done well enough with chemistry, algebra, trig, and biology. I'll even do history if need be. (No English. None.)
It's a nice steady flow; I can usually count on about $40-$100 a week average during the school year (but after the first 9 weeks - the first report card is usually the one that scares the parents). I branched out during college and started doing computer work on the side. I managed to score some small but profitable accounts with small businesses and individuals that just need a few hours a year of my time, whether for setting up a new machine or adding a firewall or whatever. Relation between these two subjects? I ended up securing the WiFi setup of a family I'm tutoring in. They had just brought the thing home. I got the daughter's laptop and set it up. Lo and behold, she's installed Firefox, just as I told her to. Furthermore, she's set her home page to her Xanga blog.
I'm pushing 30 (I know, I know, one foot in the grave, other one's on a banana peel). People didn't have cell phones when I was in high school. We occasionally got to borrow one that had free nights/weekends, and it was a bag phone (see #3) at that. Now they have blogs and camera phones.
I love technology. I just wish I had more of it.
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