Wow! Thanks to all for the positive replies!
daacon and scott-devon - Take a minimum of 3 bracketted exposures. 3 stops over, 3 stops under and one at 0. Make sure to use a tripod. When you have it, you'll find the feature in Photoshop: File > Automate > Merge to HDR. PM me if you need more info, but like I said I'm still extremely new to this.
Peter Zack - yes, all work was done within Photoshop CS3.
Stu - I messed around with the top and bottom of the histogram/levels (?) curve a bit so that my shadows and highlights were coming out properly. If you are using photoshop, I used local adaptation when changing from 32 bit to 16 bit, then finally changing to 8-bit for jpeg conversion. Simply slide the top of the curve leftward, and the bottom of the curve right, nothing else. To get as much pop as possible though, I think I tried to go as far as 3.5 stops over and under exposed.
Petthefish - ya I hear you! My first one came out totally cartoonish looking and I said blah. I'll be visiting that place once more tomorrow to try a redo.
JScott - thanks for answering Mandi's question for me
Mandi - here's another link but after reading it, I like JScott's link better.
High dynamic range imaging - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
vinzer - I couldn't reply to you fast enough because I was getting back to work. I can send you a copy of a high res. file if you'd like. I'm thinking of printing off an 8x10 and framing it for my office. PM me if you'd like.