Hi CJ,
Just read through your thread and I'm glad that you've concluded to give the program up that you joined and concentrate your efforts into generating money for yourself.
As Lynn said, setting up WordPress via Hostgator is really very simple and many people are using this system now as a CMS (content management system) rather than coding or using html editors.
If you are fairly new to Internet Marketing then a WordPress site is a great starting block for you to find your feet. It's worth doing some market research to find a niche and then put up an affiliate based WordPress site.
You can get themes for WordPress that will allow you to have a completely different look from a standard blog. There are plenty of free themes to choose from but some really great premium themes for this type of site can be found at
http://www.ithemes.com you'll find a lot of very adaptable themes here, also try
http://diythemes.com/ the Thesis theme is very popular and easily adapted and another great theme for a CMS style site is
http://wpremix.com/ this has lots of different options and pages that you can use to build the kind of site that you want.
You can also add various plugins to enhance your site even further. Some great plugins are All in One SEO plugin, Internal Link Builder, Go Codes (for covering affiliate links), Google XML Sitemaps (to keep Google updated about your content) and Ultimate Google Analytics (to keep an eye on your traffic). I would give you the links for these but it's easier to just add them via the new WordPress 2.7 interface. Just search for plugins on your dashboard and one click install.
If you need any help with WordPress, they have just released
http://wordpress.tv and this should answer any queries you may encounter.
Dreamweaver is a great program and if you intend to build lots of sites then it's a great tool to have. Personally I would say that it would be easier to test the water with WordPress and then use some of your affiliate earnings to further invest in a program like Dreamweaver (or X-Site Pro, which I've used and found excellent).
Adsense is probably something you should avoid until you have a lot of traffic. Some people can find it quite off putting if it's not placed correctly and the revenue is very small when you are just starting out. You will generate far more from creating great content and having people click through your affiliate links.
Wishing you every Success
Nikki