it was very easy for me to start learning Final Cut I taught myself how to use it and all the little tricks and ways to make things easier and it is very similar to Sony Vegas... obviously there are the differences between mac and PC in that aspect but almost all pro video editing software has the same basic layout
a timeline, a viewer, a canvas, and bins for video and media.
I had lots of problems with crashing ESPECIALLY when working with HD on Sony Vegas even though I had the computer to back it up but when I switched over with 2 GB's of ram on my 20" iMac its very quick. The only complaint is the actual rendering of video effects, color filters, special effects, titles but thats just because my graphic card lacks.
I doubt you are going to do much in the way of that anyways but the menu's are very easy to figure out and you can render it just about any way imaginable for YouTube, DVD you name it.
I've got Final Cut Studio 2 (the full suite), bought it when I got my mac almost $1300 now they have Final Cut Studio 3... there are not too many features that I can use in Final Cut Studio 3 that would be useful so I decided against upgrading so Steve if you want FCS 2 I know someone who you can get it from along with that remote
hows that for a review