Welcome, Ed!! The D7000 was my first DSLR after going as far as I could with my point and shoots. It's a lot of camera, and can get a little confusing, so take your time and learn it as best as you can. That means reading the manual and taking lots of photos - rejoicing in your triumphs and learning from the mistakes. Play around, vary settings and see what a little of this and a little of that can do as you change things. As helpful as I found the manual, it's very dry and really requires the camera to be in one hand and the book in the other, and lots of page flipping since every menu option seems to refer you back to another page where the rest of it is explained. I found Darrell Young's book Mastering the Nikon D7000 to be a wonderful alternative. It is a detailed walk through the menu system, explaining what everything is, what the various options really mean, and best of all it gives you some recommended settings for specific circumstances, or the first time user. In the meantime, when you get frustrated just stick that sucker in Program Mode (P - automatic) and shoot some photos.
And if you get stuck, this is a great place to admit it and seek out some advice.
And here's to great wives!!
