Converting to Drupal

Hi,
I'm new to Drupal but have lots of PHP/MySQL experience. I generally build sites using CodeIgniter, a PHP platform and it is one such site that I'd like to move over to Drupal. It'll be my first Drupal site but I've decided to throw myself in at the deep end with something quite complicated!

The site is a surf forecast site which takes and interprets huge weather files from the NOAA server every day. It contains over 3,000 surf spots which are sorted in the following taxonomy:
continent->country->region->spot

Hi, newbie here.

I have been maintaining a database, (db/text with webpublisher pro), of concert events. There is the descriptive metadata and audio files (hosted externally and linked to via an xml playlist). I would like to migrate to Drupal 7.

Hi, newbie here.

I have been maintaining a database, (db/text with webpublisher pro), of concert events. There is the descriptive metadata and audio files (hosted externally and linked to via an xml playlist). I would like to migrate to Drupal 7.

How would I merge content (e.g. a forum, with nodes, terms and users) from one Drupal site into another?

Here's my specific use case:

So I've been messing around with Drupal on my local machine to get familiar with it so I can switch my website to Drupal. Drupal will really be a good fit for managing my site and I really see the power behind it.

I've been reading a lot on Drupal.org about Drupal concepts. I understand Drupal in theory, but I just don't know how to apply that theory. I have a couple Drupal books coming from the library both "Using Drupal" and "The Definitive Guide to Drupal 7". However, I am impatient and I really want to create something on the site I have locally before the books arrive!

Take this page

http://www.cerm.info/bible_studies/Eschatology/second_coming.htm

Copy and paste into Drupal did not get all the styles and colors showing up. I installed a CK Editor module (http://ckeditor.com/download) but it did not help much. I want to directly copy over my pages without me having to RE-DO all the colors and styles. There has to be a solution out there.

Thanks..

John