Having two children, it's quite difficult for me to have side projects - but on the other hand, I find myself so desparate that I am actually more concentrated

Having two children, it's quite difficult for me to have side projects - but on the other hand, I find myself so desparate that I am actually more concentrated when hacking on a pet project. What I ended up doing is always having a Netbook or at least a Linux phone with me and hack that 10-15 minutes in the bus or underground. I'll sometimes sit another minute in the train station to finish things up or use that one minute I get free when the kids sleep and my wife's busy to just get another piece of code written. It's amazing how much I even get done that way. I think only now I really value time.