Recirculating Cheese

1) As threatened, I registered for the Advanced Photoshop class (which was inexplicably not only not cancelled, but well subscribed). The instructor doesn't know me, or what I'm capable of, so I could slide through it, but that's not what I'm about. What I really want to do in this class is Worth1000 kind of stuff.

But that's not what I came here to talk about. I'm finally ready to buy an entry-level SLR. My contenders are (in approximate order of preference)

• Canon 400D/Digital Rebel XTi
  
• Nikon D40X
  
• Olympus E-420
  
• Sony Alpha DSLR-A100

Any strong opinions from the list? Love? Hate? Something else I should be considering? I want to keep the initial kit affordable, but extensible (while not requiring a lot of extensions to be reasonable/workable). Help?

b) The weather has been suckalicious, and there's still a lot going on on both sides, but I've arranged to ride Gemini again next Friday, as well as Razzy (who used to have two girls fighting over him, but they've both disappeared, so he's unexpectedly still available).

One interesting variant on this is that I could foster one of these horses - like adoption, except for 3 months without the long-term commitment. One of the other volunteers is fostering Miss Pie, and will probably adopt at the end of 3 months.