Come January February I plan to purchase the Nikon D5000 DSLR.

It's quite the step up from the Sony Cybershot 'point-and-shoot' that I've been using currently. I'm hoping I see a dramatic improvement in image quality (I don't expect to see an improvement in the photos themselves, I am an amateur after all)

Why not a Canon you ask? It was a hard decision not to go Canon, but the Nikon won me over with some features the Canon just didn't have. Expect to see a shitload of photos from me once I get it.