A better way to desolder?
 

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i heat up the solder, add a tiny bit of new solder to make it flow, and then heat it from underneath so most of it flows onto the iron.... Then just sort of flick it off the tip of the iron onto a piece of metal - works fine for me, very fast

I have tried the $300+ hakko desoldering gun at my day job, and while it works well, I think the cheapie Tenma from parts express (http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=370-325) works just as well. The hole is kind of big, so it doesn't work well for tiny components though. It's worth the investment.

One trick I do if I have nothing but a soldering iron to work with, and I want to clean a hole out- stand the board up on end (lean it against something), heat up the pad from the bottom, then shoot through the hole from the top with a can of air (computer duster or whatever). This blows the hole out nice and clean ;)