Blwj,
Welcome to the heli craze! First off, typing in all caps inicates yelling and makes it difficult to read your post on some pc's. Not trying to be rude just consider that in the future.

Now, on to the more important stuff. I am in Houston as well. Where do you fly at? You WILL need to get some local help. Flying planes is a huge help in knowledge of the basics in RC but it can get the average plane pilot in trouble if he is overly confident when dealing with helis. So, lets back up a tad.

You bought a CCPM machine. What radio do you have and is it CCPM capable?

What gyro and servos are you going to use?
What engine and muffler are you going with?

I like to first build the linkages and setup the swashplate for EXACT level at midstick. But, you have to make sure that your pitch and throttle curves are linear, you ATVs are all at 100%, you have no mixes or subtrims active, and you are in ID1 flight mode.

If all that is take care of then pick one side of the head, mark the blade grip on that side with a dot of paint. This is your "primary" blade. Put your heaviest BALANCED blade on this side. From now on all pitch setting are done on this blade. You can go back and match the blades in the end. That will basically set your blade tracking REAL close before you get to the field.

Noticed I said BALANCED blades. Be sure to balance the blades before you fly. They are NOT balanced and will beat the heli to death.

Be sure that you have all the interaction in the swashplate dial out according to the instructions.