Thanks! By 'weekend projects' I really meant two or three projects drawn out over several months. I've started working on one but it's at the bottom of my priority list right now, that'll change in a few months when I'm done with my thesis.

I've also come to realize how skewed your perspective is based on who you're surrounded by. I'm one of the best in my CS department which made me think that job searching would be easy, but now I see that I'm the best of a small group that isn't that spectacular to begin with. Really wish I'd taken the harder path four years ago and gone for a better/larger school.