You are in the right place, absorb as much as you can and don't let fear hold you back.  

In other words I stayed around the campfire absorbing as much as possible and met as many agents as possible.  

The golden rule  to have a good cushion to absorb some sort of expense and loss.

Take time and absorb so that you can identify how you want to create the long term income. 

If you refinish all the wood at the same time and stain it all, hopefully you can get a consistent enough color that the two woods don't look out of place -- though I'm not familiar enough with the woods to know if the grains will clash or absorb the stain to different degrees.

A duplex would make a lot of sense for me, but right now I am just absorbing a lot of new lingo and ideas from this forum (just what I love to do!).

I am sure you are going to absorb it all and do great.

I am trying to be a sponge and absorb, but what Id like to do most of all is close deals.  

The 'moisture' that is being absorbed naturally by such a cheap porous slab (that obviously lacks any form of insulation & vapor barrier when poured) is going to wick through the slab.

I'm Krista Patrick and I've actually been a member of BiggerPockets for about six months now but I've been spending my time reading (books, forums, the Ultimate Beginners Guide, getting started, etc), listening to podcasts, absorbing as much knowledge as I can, and saving but I think it's finally time to stop being scared and start introducing myself.