Welcome Hawkeye!
Your attitude sounds absolutely perfect for a new owner/driver. Keep the fear/respect in your right foot for a while. You'll stay out of trouble and enjoy the leaning experience more. The first time (and there WILL be a first time) you really let loose you will need a change of underwear...better to have that happen later than sooner (IMO).
No one has given you the layman's straight on the "shift lock". It was designed to force a driver at low rpm to upshift from 1st to 4th in order to save gas and get a better gas mileage rating on the car. I believe that there is a 15% formula (damm if I know the math) that locks you out of 2nd. With a little more umph, the lock out (and the indicator light) will open. There is a product commonly referred to as a skip-shift eliminator that some of us install which, as indicated, eliminates the lock out. A few "site vendors" sell it. Try
http://www.snakeoylproducts.com/ and search on skip shift eliminator.
Like everyone says....the grin stays
