I hear ya lol - that's why I'm on photos atm, since don't have the time I usually take to get everything "just so" as you did with this one 
haha, yea i dont like throwing things together unless i know it's gonna pop lol. I see you're in photography now, which cam are you using, i'm also in the market for a dslr.
I've had a Nikon D40x for six years - very happy with it - its a great "student" DSLR, and there are tons of great lenses that are compatible with the D40/60 line. The D60 is another good choice, more bells and whistles that I didn't feel I needed at the time (video?). I've got a few pixels that run hot or are dead now, but that happened in the last month, so I've gotten a lot of shots -as long as I clean the pixels up in RAW format, still spins like a top. I bought it originally to photograph jewelry - [link] - but I think it's a pretty good all purpose model. I'm learning CS5 to clean up all my amateurish auto-focused shots now lol. Pentax makes some comparable models I think are just as good - they make a very solid product for a much lower price than Nikon asks. D40x/D60 lenses for telephoto or wide angle can be had for the serious cheap as of the last couple years, its the macro that are out of my budget. I think I paid $780 for the D40x and standard 50mm lens, which you can get for about half that now - its been so long since I camera shopped in earnest that I'm sure there are much cooler things to be had. Lookin forward to some photos from ya if you get into it 