Tips for a bbq/smoker newb?

gonna try to do some ribs in the morning, any tips?

Welcome to the smoking club. Do not fidget with the meat to much or open the door to check on it. Every time you open the door you will add about 10-15 minutes of cook time. I only turn my meat once and that is towards then end of the process. When I smoke I use that as an excuse to smoke a cigar and drink a nice beer. I have to keep the door closed to the house and my wife will usually leave for a while while I am smoking the meat. The last time I smoke a turkey breast I tried it two ways. The first was just smoke it with rub, the second way I soaked it in brine the night before and then used rub and smoked it. The second is way better. Make sure you have an extra propane bottle just in case you run out in the middle of cooking. I am going to try brisket next.
When ever I am going to smoke something, a few days before I will research and check out different methods and recipes. Smoking is not something you want to just do the morning of with out some pre-planning, especially if you are going to use brine.

Enjoy and let us know how it goes.

The butcher who promised me a full brisket (can't remember the proper term) ended up only having the flat cut so I passed. I bought a rack of ribs and a small pork shoulder and used the rubs from the smoking book that was referenced earlier in this thread. I had a hard time keeping the temperature at a consistent low temp. Although the thermo on the top of the drum was usually reading 220, it would spike to 260-280 when I added coals to the offset box. I was having to open the offset box top to keep the temp down. I think I should have put the shoulder further away from the offset box side of the grill as it seemed to get done a little too fast. Still, not too bad though. The ribs came out great with a nice crust prior to adding the sauce at the end. Salmon is next on the list.

Thanks to everybody for the suggestions!!