I am so glad i found your site. i've been pouring over the drupal recipes, beginner guides for days while hitting the proverbial brick wall without much breakthrough. i've been scratching my head wondering over those very same questions you listed out (ie. how do i put so-and-so nodes on page blah-url). Thank you, so much. After reading your post, learning how to use drupal might not seem so impossible now :-) Please keep it up