It took me over a week to generate any coins, then I generated two blocks (100 bitcoins) in just a few hours (running bitcoin on my 2GHZ dual core mac laptop).
While it is fun to see bitcoins generated "out of thin air", it is much more important to figure out how to make them easier to buy and easier to spend. Since you're not a programmer/developer, I'd like to hear any ideas you have on how to make bitcoin less geeky and more user-friendly.