Newbie to lasers from CA

Hey everyone, just joined. I became interested in building lasers after my roomate and I have been doing laser graffiti for the last month. I was looking around the site but am a little overwhelmed. Can anyone point me to some threads for newbies, especially for extracting diodes from DVD burners and the construction process. I have only a cursory knowledge of electronics so the easier the better. Thanks everyone!

Welcome.
This is a great place to start. Read all of these, all the pages, because they aren't neccessarily only regarding the titles, then ask questions if you still have any.
http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1190456606

thanks a bunch, exactly what i was looking for.