First off, welcome adam_blackice.

As someone self-taught who came to perlmonks.org for advice and help, I'll say you definitely came to the right place. Most of the monks here are very helpful, and as TIMTOWTDI, often you'll get multiple insightful answers to any question you ask effectively.

I'd say you would be well served to listen to the advice marto and jfluhmann gave in their earlier replies, but I would also like to point you to the Categorized Questions and Answers node as well. I started off by reading through there for each and every one of my questions, and for every question I posted here, I had 5 more answered there without having to ask anyone. There is a great store of tutorials, examples, and ideas here. Start by looking through those.

And, you'll always get better feedback and responses if you try to work out something on your own first, even if it's just a flowchart or outline, and then describe problems you run into along the way. People are far more willing to help if they feel you are putting in the effort yourself, as opposed to just asking people to do your project for you.

HTH
Matt