Thanks guys. I picked up the Apress book on Python and downloaded the Komodo IDE trial to get me started.
I'm going to try using Django to build my website and since my brother already has hosting I'll just borrow some space. He does PHP for a living, so it would probably be better for me to use that instead. Unfortunately, I'm allergic to dollar signs ;) -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list