"drop dead boring?!"!
You better be careful, Terry wrote that chapter, and he used to wrestle in high school.
My
advice is to turn your computer off, get a notepad, and sketch out a basic UI on paper. Get a sense of what you actually need to do. Now sketch out a simple architecture(like we have at the yop of each chapter). This will invoke your curiosity, and
get you interested in the topic. Then, sit down and write a simple UI. Stop. Sit down and write a simple File access layer. Stop. Sit down and write a simple RMI program...well, you get the picture. Remember, you're doing this for yourself, so it's worthwhile to play a jedi mind trick on yourself and
make yourself interested.
Good luck,
M