Understanding Exposure

As many of you know, (it's funny how I say many regarding the 5 people that read this) I have lately been fumbling my way around a Canon Rebel XSi. Now, granted, I have been able to snap some pretty neat looking photos considering my knowledge base, but I have felt that I'm missing a great deal of what my camera can do. I have been aimlessly snapping photos and messing with settings. Typically I will shoot for an hour or two, take hundreds of photos and end up with 5-10 that actually look good. NO MORE! For Christmas, my sister gave me a book called "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson. This book is awesome. I'm maybe two chapters into it and already I feel so much more confident with my camera. I've read several articles on the interwebs and parts of a couple of books but this one blows them all away. Most of what I have read up to this point deals in lots of numbers and tries to make things overly complicated while overlooking some of the really basic functions of the camera. This book really breaks it down from a very basic standpoint and basically takes you by the hand and says, "Look, this is how it works." It is fantastic. I'm so excited to take my new-found knowledge into the real world and start taking some awesome pictures. I need the sun to come up already!!