When I started out programming in Perl, I tended 
to use the examples in books as the basis for new projects.
The new book _Perl:  How to Program_ by Dietal & Dietal has tons
of source material on a wide variety of topics.  For example,
you could fiddle with DBI, MySQL, and Apache on your windows
or linux box and implement a web interface to a MySQL database.
( the book comes with everything you need ).

The code you write there would then form the backbone for
a logging system for any network related programs that you 
write.  I like to create generic tools that can be used 
anywhere and tend to stick them in category_Toolbox.pm

Here is a challenge:  write a generic mySQL database 
interface that:

1) dynamically creates tables in a mySQL database from user
input ( either by editing a file or asking questions...your
choice ).  User input includes the table name, each column 
name, the type for each column, and any associated 
arguments.

	a) make a subroutine that creates a column in the
      	table according to mySQL syntax.  You should keep
      	this simple and do not include all the options.

2) takes a series of data values, maps them to a known table,
and slams them into the database correctly.  It should 
report back to you exactly what it did.

3) allows users to query the database for info.

4) allows db query access by users using any browser.

Add more requirements as you see fit, but I'd keep it simple 
for the first few cuts.  You might want to limit version 0.1
to the requirements 1 and 2.  Once that's working, you can
then add in the user interface.

This is a project that I've had lots of fun messing with and
have working.  It's not big and is really useful.