First Ham Radio

It looks like I might be going out this weekend to get my first ham radio. I've had my technician license for a couple of months, but I haven't bought a radio yet. The primary reason is that I have no clue what to buy. There are all these different options that I no absolutely nothing about. I feel totally and completely stupid about the whole thing. I wish our class had included a trip to the local store with buying tips. I even joined a radio club without any real clue as to what I was doing. One of the guys from church took me to a club meeting and told me it was a good club and that I should join. So... I joined. Part of joining a club is getting to use their repeaters and that part made sense to me. Considering our location I'm guessing most of my chatting would be done on a repeater. If I do any chatting at all, that is. I got into this thing for emergency communications and now I feel like I actually have to do something with it. Otherwise the whole thing will have been just a waste of time. So I'm going to go and buy my first radio and start in on the whole thing. We'll see how it goes. Wish me luck.