Greg - have a great time as I am sure you both will.
Just a quick update - I opened a couple of broker accounts last week to check them out. Hands-down the Schwab folks get my business. I had cause to ask them a question so I picked up the phone. Not only did they pick up the phone without delay but the guy who picked up could not have been more helpful if he tried. He made some changes to my account while on the phone and had me log back in, made me feel welcome and did not talk down to me, made sure I knew they were available for any type of assistance 24x7 for free, pointed me to their on-line resources and booked me into a free one-on-one session with one of their traders to go through their tools and get me started. Completely no pressure and did not ask me anything about my funding intentions. Additionally they just happen to have an office barely 2min from my house - bonus!
I'm going to deposit some limited funds in that direction this week and get my feet wet. I've always wanted to do this myself so right now I just want to learn and have some fun. I appreciate your self-deprecating humor at your own past mistakes - helping to illustrate the point about gambling vs investing for the long term.
Thanks for the "push" - will keep you posted
Gregg