Absolutely! As I say at one point in the post, if I had to choose I would choose life over side projects any day of the week. Although I prefer to hire those who do side projects I have also hired people precisely because of what they did outside of the web.
I agree. I am not a great fan of side products because that is a whole other goal. That is all about making money rather than learning more. Its just not me.
My advice is keep the side project small and only work on one at a time. We often spread ourselves too thin and try and undertake something too big. If we cannot see fast results we become demoralised.
I know how you feel but I don't think it needs to be that way. I have a family and that does (rightly) take a lot of time. However, it can be done. Its a matter of organisation.
It has also inspired me to write a followup post on my own blog looking at the subject of side projects in a little more depth: http://boagworld.com/working-in-web-design/side-projects-can...