dealing with small drill bits/holes

[russlk]

"the pads in Eagle are often so small that even if I don't ruin the pad between etching and drilling, there's not much room for the solder to stick. "
The pads are sized for plated thru holes. For hand soldering, it would pay to go into the library and change the sizes. It is easy to do, just click on the library button and open.
Firs, use VIEW - INFO to find what the package name is and which library it is in. Go to the library, find the package and edit it. Use VIEW - INFO to find the original pad and hole size, then click on the edit button and select CHANGE. You can change the pad size with DIAMETER or change the hole size with DRILL. If the pad size is auto, changing the drill size will also change the pad size.