Have you ever thought to yourself "Hmmm... What I need here is an uber class that does database access, file access, logging, e-mailing, Amazon/Google searching, and xml processing"?
More importantly, would you take lessons from a person who wrote one?
Enter... The Utility Belt
Go ahead! Copy 'n' paste it and use it right away (actually, it takes about 1 minute to highlight all the code without using ctl-a). It's 6116 lines of kitchen sink goodness for yer lernin' pleasure.