Hi all! Newbie from Chicago

[Joseph Ziolkowski]

Hi everyone! My name is Joe Ziolkowski. I live in the SW suburbs of Chicago. I'm new to rei, though I've wanted to do it for a long time. I think I finally got the bug a couple of weeks ago to really pursue this, and now I'm in the mind-numbing process of educating myself and figuring out where to start. I look forward to meeting many good people here. Any advice would be welcome, as would any opportunities for a newbie like myself to help any of you here.