Thanks for the tips, projecteight! Like you said, it's all about the research, and I', reading a lot online all the time these days. I just figured I'd get a bunch of opinions on the message board to help direct my research. Right now I'm trying to learn about lights.
You mentioned you use a 600W horti for flowering -- is that a kind of hps light?
I have seeds saved from my dealer, so I'm going to go with those as you suggested. I know I have a very low chance of success the first time around, but what the hell... gotta walk before you can crawl, right?

Anybody's opinion on an efficient, cheap lighting setup, please feel free to toss in your two cents. thx