I had originally planned to do the PoolOfThought site in a completely different mold. However, after careful consideration I decided I could probably get just as much functionality (if not more) by using WordPress and just “themeing” it to look the way I want.  Once that decision was made all I needed was a tutorial.

I found several decent tutorials, but my favorite was this one. Maybe someone else will find it useful as well.

http://www.wpdesigner.com/2007/02/19/so-you-want-to-create-wordpress-themes-huh/