I started learning Ruby and Ruby on Rails a few months ago. I've found it much easier to learn the basics of Ruby before diving into Rails. I started with reading Learn to Program by Chris Pines. The book is aimed at someone new to programming. Does a great explaining programming and Ruby.
I second this. Pine's book has good learning flow. It makes you think through programming problems with the tools at hand; it prepares you just enough for practice examples, requiring you to work hard for the answers. This results in a very fun and effective learning process, and a long-lasting knowledge of basic Ruby idioms.
Great response. I agree with most of your points. I'm considering removing the "Discuss this deal" box all together since it's never used. I think a comments box under the deal would be better.
Thanks! Discounts usually range anywhere from 20% to 50%. Most tickets we get are not priced too high to begin with so we take at least $5 off. We're pretty flexible though and try to do whatever works best for the promoter.