Starting Anew

I've always played with cameras.
When I was a kid, my dad let me borrow (read: play with) his old Nikon SLR... I'd shoot rolls and rolls of film, playing with focus and composition, and waiting anxiously for my photos to show up again in the bins at Costco.
I took photography in high school, and discovered the wonders of the darkroom and black and white photography... my dad built me a darkroom of my very own, in the guest bathroom at my parents house.
I had one of the first widely available digital cameras, a Nikon CoolPix 880 (or was it 850?) It's so old I can't find a photo of it on the entire internet! I just looked.
I paid $1200 for all 1.2mp of it!
In 2006, Jamie bought me my first DSLR, a Nikon D50, which came with an 18-55mm lens and because it was part of a kit, it also came with a 55-200 lens, which I basically never use.
For Christmas 2007, my dad gave me a flash to round out my options, and that's all the equipment I have these days.

Where was I?

Right, my Nikon. So I've been using it for the last 5 or so years as a glorified point and shoot... I've played a little with its capabilites, but I haven't put any real effort into learning more about the digital side of photography, or translating my existing skillset into something that's useable in this new media.

Which brings me to this new blog. I'm doing a series of online classes through 2Peas, and have joined an online message board with a focus on photography. I'm starting this blog as a place to keep track of my progress overall and generally put my photos in one place.