I can appreciate that since I still have a weakness for domains related to forest ecology. I registered quaking-aspen.com years ago. Some day I will put a copy of my dissertation up there and prove more people will read it on the web than will ever dig a copy out of the library.
That said, there is value in a website written from personal interest in a subject. It may never have ads, but if you can attract some readership and links it's a great source of link juice you can point toward other, more commercial, sites you may develop.