I've got a Pentax. Great cameras. They basically invented the SLR.
Anyway... my biggest suggestion would be to take a gander at your local community college and take a class on photography. They should have a course on just SLRs, and they've probably even got a darkroom and will teach you how to develop, enlarge, and print your own photos. This is a very important part in learning how to take pictures. Darkroom manipulation is probably the sexiest thing in the world. They'll likely start you off with black and white film, which is good training for learning to look at the light and shadow. You get to worry about color later. It's fun to see how colored filters change your finished product with B&W film.
Filters are probably the coolest thing about real cameras as opposed to digital. Yeah, you can get similar effects with photoshop or with certain settings on the digital... but nothing compares to doing it yourself manually. My favorite filter is a "sparkle filter." I can't remember if that's what it's actually called, but it's great for shooting at night, because it throws a sparkle around every point of light. Super cool.
If you've got specific questions, I can probably answer them, but I'd really suggest taking a class. Your teacher will help you learn your camera.
