Ease my frustration with color output and printing......

There's already been one link to this site but I also think you may find this of interest:

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/image-sharpening.htm

Getting the colours and the contrast right is important, aside from that though I think getting the output sharpening correct is also a key step.

On the colour issue, there are a number of USB monitor calibration devices available, the cheapest one I've seen being around $100 US. I haven't tried any yet so it's something you'll have to investigate (perhaps look at the Amazon reviews for Datacolor or X-Rite products).

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Gravity will make you crazy until you get the hang of it.