I just wanted to add that there are thousands upon thousands of VERY HELPFUL threads buried in the forums, that only the perfect search terms will find, so be diligent in searching. It usually takes me at least three tries to find something useful on a given topic. Think of keywords, and if you need to narrow it down to fewer results try modifiers like "tutorial" and "guide" and "dyi" to get more helpful posts.
GOOD LUCK, n00bs!
P.S. I am a n00b, too.