fadibob I think you are using primitives as too much of a crutch, I like the gold ring one a lot more.
Maybe we should have weekly modeling challenges and post them in art subforum, if they are just small stuff maybe we can inspire more people to pick up making 3d stuff.
Remember in the good old days when we had a LOT of 3d artists around? Personally I got into it because I saw other people's awesome work. Freelancer is probably the guy I could pin it on, he wasn't amazingly skilled to be honest, but man did his work look cool.