I had planned on using the garbage cans because they are free leftovers from my brother's keg party.

I'm not ready to grow yet obviously, I still need to read up on the light cycle benefits for me to decide.

I would be close to my grow but keep weird hours at home occasionally so a timer would make things a bit easier I believe.

I should have been more specific about the timer (and I was slightly buzzing). I have little knowledge about timers. A friend found one at his house that was a plug in type. If I had to do any re-wiring, I didn't know how envolved wiring a timer would be.

I'm looking into the HID's now. I'm hoping to look on Ebay and others to see what I can find.