\_ I AM a newbie (just ask David), 

I'd have to reject that proposition, actually.  Beginner if you must,
but you've done some stuff that say the kid gloves are looking kinda
ragged.

\_ and I think Perl is still the way
\_ to go. I have picked up books on Python (O'Reilly), and still found
\_ myself turning to Perl because I found it easier to understand.

The thing about python that slows me down the most is that indenting
makes a difference.  It's the whole concept that irks me.  Yes, I
follow indenting rules, but to make the whitespace important when not
in a string or literal?  

Many people I know have said python is happy, but I just can't see
playing with an indent sensitive language.  It hurts.  I've got the
ORA book, just lacking the motivation....

David