You should be able to get a package deal - guitar/amp/cord/tuner/strap - for under $300 from an online site like marsmusic.com (they have free shipping) or music123.com or musicians friend.
In that price range, I'd probably stick to a hardtail guitar because the tremelos they use tend to suck...
I think if the book had the amount of recipes that you posted in this thread it would have been much better. Like others have said in the various BFL threads on this board, the book is a good buy for the newbie, but maybe worth a skim if you've been around for a while. There were about 5 pages...
I glanced through the book. I'd suggest checking it out from your library before you buy it. There were meal plans for 2 days in the version of the book that I had. About the only thing it had for the meals was what foods were good for carbs/fats/proteins, but didn't really get into what...
Ulead VideoStudio will do this, although it's more for video editing, the source it uses is an AVI file and it outputs in MPEG. I use this for my Digital Camcorder. Here's the link for the trial version:
http://www.ulead.com/vs/trial.htm
Otherwise, go with the tmpeg encorder that Human...