<...> even though I'm learning the hard way...
So, your friend throws you to the wolves on this forum? Great buddy.

OK. So you figured it out on your own, good for you. But honestly, what's so special about it to figure out? This is just an online forum. These things have been around forever, probably way before you were even born. And people weren't struggling with it back in the BBS days, half a century ago. Come on.