"While it isn't a perfect indicator, exception handling is one of the few things that quickly speak about the quality of code."

Although a little old, this definitely bears a read; in the past, I've been pretty guilty of pretty much every practice he lists!  =)  I wonder how many out there are still using this as a practice right now.  Can't tell you how many "enterprise" systems I've seen where this sort of exception swallowing is used - very scary to see!