Thanks everyone for the kind words -- you have made this beginner feel very welcome. It's good to see that the elitism that exists within other online communities is absent here.

My biggest hurdle right now too is just getting my head around all the different gear and equipment.

For example, I have a 40# draw weight on my bow, and I need to get the draw length down to 24-26" from 30" (I have like T-Rex arms lol), so what length arrow do I need? Like I said, right now I've been shooting these Carbon Express 28" aluminum arrows from WalMart that costs like $3.00 and I have Realtree 100 grain Bullet Point Field Points on them and they seem to fly well enough for my backyard practice, but the fletchings don't last very long and I'm not sure if I should be shooting a longer or shorter arrow?

That's just the tip of the iceberg as far as the millions of questions in my head lol.