>>188The Baofang UV-5R is a surprisingly useful radio, depending on your area. The easiest thing to do would be to look for a repeater that's closeby:
http://www.artscipub.com/repeaters/Listen to and talk with the other hams in your local area (be prepared to meet a shit-ton of old white guys). There might be a local repeater with EchoLink or some cross-band capabilities into HF that would let you try out some HF activity without as much of an investment. This also gives you an opportunity to look for places locally where people are selling stuff, which can get you started easily.