Nikon D80

I was still using my dad's very old analog camera. I loved it. But since it's really old and has some flaws it was holding me back. A friend of mine was taking beautiful pictures and it encouraged me to take up photography again last year. The desire was there, and I like the fact that I inherited this from my father, it's something good to hold on to. So I went on line for many months, deciding whether or not I was going to get a camera, was I serious about this? Once I decided to go ahead, it took more months of research to decide which camera to invest in. I don't think there is a right or wrong here, I just happen to have many friends who were all happily using their Nikon. So once that one was figured out, there was the last decision, which one?? It was at a time that the Nikon D200 was coming out, and shortly after the D300. Was I wanting to invest in something so advanced? I decided it was not. A Nikon D80 would be enough of a challenge, a good start and I knew I would not get bored with it all that quickly. And this turned out to be true. I am still in a learning process. Something that is very annoying at times, challenging as well, but the more I get into it, the more fun and challenging it gets. I love it. And learning the techniques of good picture taking is better then to figure out a D200 if you ask me. My lens.... it is a good one although I have to admit I wasn't sure what I was talking about when shopping for one. Nikon 18-200 mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S DX VR... are you kidding me? I had no clue what all of this meant. So another 5 calls were made to friends and I decided on something like this, only to figure out what I really want or need in the future. For now, it is still serving me well. As far as editing goes, I work on an Apple and therefore have iPhoto. I would love to invest in a better program when necessary, I think my options are either Aperture from Apple or Adobe Lightroom. No experience there so maybe some one has advice? Soon I will show some of my picture taking, and it's challenges.