Day one of my challenge

Day one....
So, how do I learn to photograph? I am beginning to doubt myself already! But as the saying goes...You can do anything you want to do..if you want it bad enough...Do I want it bad enough..Yep! I do believe I do..
I have found a great resource on the web.
Digital Photography School
http://digital-photography-school.com/
Oh goodness, I couldn't believe I found this site. Articles galore!
They have weekly assignments on their forumn..
http://digital-photography-school.com/forum/digital-photography-assignments/
and..get this..even a 365 assignment on their flicer group!
http://www.flickr.com/groups/365_dps_assignment/
Best of all..all of it is 100% free!
So my first plan of attack is to partcipate in all the assigments..the weekly, and daily. I plan to read all the articles and learn, learn, learn!
I also went and purchased a tripod. Bear in mind..it's 2 days after Christmas and we are broke! Hubby spent all our money buying me the camera! :o) So I was bargain shopping! I know nothing about tripods..but I knew I wanted a sturdy one..lo and behold if my new camera were to fall! I found this!
Targus TGT-66TR 66" Tripod
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2668958

It was regularly $39.99 and on sale for 29.00. I got it home, hubby set it up and I believe it is sturdy enough, the pan is nice..and I do believe I'm happy with my very first tripod!
Now I know that as I progress I am going to need a better one. But just starting out I'm hoping this will do the trick.


I also spent 3 hours at Borders yesterday going through photography books trying to decide on the best one.
I finally choose Canon EOS Rebel Sxi/450D Digital Field Guide by Charlotte K. Lowrie.
http://www.amazon.com/Canon-Rebel-Digital-Field-Guide/dp/047038087X


When I got it home I realized that it didn't go enough in detail about ISO and Aperture for me to understand the concepts.
It is a great book for learning the in and outs of the Canon Rebel (which I need to do!) ..not so much for learning photography.
If anyone has a great book to recommend that will teach me what the heck ISO and Aperture is and how to use it..I would love to hear about it!
I learn more by doing..not reading and I think today I'll play with my camera and just hope I don't mess up the settings to bad! I'll never learn anything if I don't jump in..right?