Okay, I now seem to have everything under control thanks to a little bit of programming help. After embarking on a few new tasks at work, a web course, and just general stubbornness on my part I've realized that code (be it HTML, Flash, Java, whatever) is no different than learning a foreign language. There are rules, exceptions, a vocabulary set, and various other familiarities, but it's basically the same. And since I had gotten good grades in five languages I figured with a little persistance I'd master this crap too.