I'm an experienced Ruby and Ruby on Rails developer, and I'm just looking to make a few extra BTC on the side. I'm comfortable reading other people's code and building sites from scratch. I can do everything from an extremely simple site with little/no moving parts, to a complete database(SQL or NoSQL)-backed highly-concurrent server with complete unit and integration tests, and a design from scratch or the theme of your choice from a place like themeforest.com or templatemonster.com. (Let's be honest: I can do design from scratch, but you'll probably have more fun AND be more cost-effective if you went with a template. ;-) )

Examples of work:

http://www.ioofpa1032.org - Minor coding, but this is the latest design I did from scratch. WIP.
http://lifeviz.beta.westarete.com - Lead developer. WIP.
http://coolblue.com/ - Lead developer.
http://www.statecollegefitnessconsultantsinc.com/ - Lead developer.
http://altoonabustest.com/ - Developer. One of my first Rails sites.

Keep in mind, I have a full-time job already, so whatever work I do here will only be for a few hours a week, and will probably be more expensive than other developers here with more free time. I'm VERY good though. 

Last point: I'm learning node.js on the side (javascript development), and would be willing to do a website in it for much cheaper if you need something with a crazy amount of concurrency, if you're willing to let me experiment with it as a form of learning. Just an idea.

[right now]

Hey all. I found out about Bitcoins about a month ago, and I've been sharing the idea with my friends since. They all think it's a good idea, and I've nearly convinced them to start using it to make tiny, simple transactions with each other.

But the last thing they need to trust the bitcoin economy is a test dummy to try it out… introducing yours truly. And from the very beginning, I can't figure out how to actually get bitcoins.

I've been trying to generate bitcoins for a month with no success. I did some research on bitcoin mining, and joined a pool for a little bit, but didn't stay for more than a few hours to actually make any profit, because I wanted my computer back. And I don't have enough trust in the system to spend a ton of money building/buying a mining rig so I can still use my primary computer. So mining is still out for a while.

So now there's buying bitcoins. I've spent a few hours now creating an account on Mt Gox, trying to figure out how to create a Liberty Reserve account, then trying to find some kind of exchanger so I can get money into it (and lose transaction fee), then get funds (and lose transaction fee) into LR, so I can get funds into Mt. Gox (and lose transaction fee there), so I can get bitcoins into my wallet (and potentially even lose a transaction fee there too?) Ladies and gentlemen… what the f8ck?

So the last option is just providing a service and receiving bitcoins for payment. I would actually be cool with that, except my service (I've been a web developer/programmer for several years) is usually pretty pricey. I would be willing to work at a crazy reduced fee just to get bitcoins, but I don't know if I can do a block of work small enough to get the tiny amount of BC I want.

Really, for right now I only want to get 10-20 bitcoins, which I can distribute amongst my friends, and then I'll trade them beer for the bitcoins back. I'm waiting on emails from several exchangers who supposedly do paypal transactions. But the problem there is that I have to tell me friends that you have to "know a guy". I'm waaaay more trustworthy of complete strangers than my friends are. But I don't want to be the exchanger for them!

Why is it so damn hard to get BC? Wouldn't adoption of BC skyrocket if this process were much easier?

Thanks to anyone who read my rant. As payment for listening (and because I have no BC to give), here's my frustrated/sad face:

EDIT: I'll shave my face for bitcoins!