I don't know if anyone's interested, but, after having been at this for a few weeks now and gotten my bearings a bit, I wrote a (very long-winded) blog post on buying parts. I tried to stay away from explaining how to use thing, and focus on what you might want to get and why. Hopefully someone who is in the same position I was a few weeks ago might find it useful.
http://www.upwardnotnorthward.com/2008/01/electronics-shopping-list-part-ii.html