Just wondering.....As i am also a curious noob....Why do you need that long resistor?... (corrected)
I am also trying to build an arduino standalone. And i am having some trouble finding all of the nessacary parts....where did you get yours? (btw....i have no idea how to burn a bootLoader...could i get a preburnt one from the same place you got yours?)
Oh..before i forget.....Was this hard?...i mean..... i dont even need the serial programming....i just need the....bare bones of the arduino....