So, my intent is to attempt to learn how to play an acoustic guitar and maybe concoct my own music if I get that learnt up.

I know not much about music. My plan as of right now is to cruise some pawn shops and check out prices and do some reading online and get a guitar within the next few weeks.

I went through the buying your first guitar sticky...and determined I need to learn the anatomy of them and revisit that thing...which I will do after work today.

Any other helpful tips or advice or pointing to a good source of info for a boot at music would be awesome.

Few things will discourage you from learning and practicing than a cheap, crappy, improperly set up guitar.

Even a good quality guitar that has not been cared for or set up properly will not be fun to learn on.

You can read about guitars all day long, but you need to put your hands on a few to really understand. If you have a local Guitar Center, go there and just spend some time screwing around with their acoustic guitars. Unlike most of the boutique music stores, I've always found them to be very low pressure, so you can put your hands on anything from a $99.99 cheapo to a $5000+ high end guitar and begin to get some sort of idea as to what you're looking for without feeling the pressure to purchase then and there.

I've found that the local pawn shops don't give you much of a discount compared to new or used instruments at a reputable music store, especially considering that they rarely give you a warrantee.

Regardless of where you end up purchasing or how much you spend, the guitar will almost certainly need setting up. It will make a difference, especially if you buy a lower (less than $500.00) cost guitar.

Lastly, I believe you will increase your enjoyment if you take a few lessons. Watching videos and reading books are just not going to get you going as quickly. Even if you just take a couple months of once a week lessons, you'll be able to strum many songs and it will make it much easier for you to continue to build on your skills.

Solid advice above. As a  midlife newer player I can attest a guitar can make or break you. It is a real quandary as a good guitar cost money but you may love it and stick with it or you may spend bank and not enjoy it at all. I have been playing daily for about two years and love it.

I started with an acoustic Recording King but it really needed to be set up a bit better. I got an electric not long after as it is much easier to learn on, and I made sure to have it set up. Not long after that I got a like new Martin HD-28 and it is really, really sweet. But it is hard to justify that kind of outlay as a beginner. However, even with limited experience I can tell worlds of difference in a good guitar and a bad one and every time I playing a bad one, I long for mine.

Now I work in a pawn shop some and I get to play many guitars. And my friend and his dad have a pretty nice collection of Martens themselves including some older ones. It wont take very long for you to be able to tell yourself if you keep playing. And speaking of pawn shops, not all of them are rip offs. Right now ours has a couple of really nice guitars for a really good price, though we have lots of crap too...for an even better price. Honestly, you are going to have to rely on others to help you out. Guitar center is pretty awesome for selection and they will let you play with them!

I started playing guitar when I was 8.  My dad had a fire damaged 1964 Firebird that he kept in the case under the bed.  It had the high E and B strings left and the finish was all bubbled and it smelled like a campfire.  He bought it a few days before he was drafted in 1965.  He and my uncle were old school rockers.  They played in bands and had all kinds of nice gear that would fetch a pretty penny these days, Strats, semi-hollow Gibsons and Gretch's, Fender and Supro amps.  Anyway, I digress.  

So my family has always been musical.  My dad kept this guitar out of sentimental reasons I guess after the apartment he and my mom moved into burned to the ground after they married and I was born.  So I would just ogle that thing, it was glorious!  My cousins who were older had guitars and I had just started playing the violin in school.  Soon enough, my grandmother bought me a Sears acoustic that was sized for kids.  That was it, I was hooked.

So, my point is this.  In addition to the spot on advice above, IMO an instrument has to speak to you, it has to have a vibe.  You might play ten different samples of the same model and one will just stand out for some inexplicable reason.  Play as many guitars as you can.  You obviously have no experience but feel them and get a sense for what it says to you when you hold it or look at it.  Musical instruments have very minute nuances that when the planets line up make one sound ok and the other like God himself crafted it from his own hands.  You will know it when you feel it.  The last guitar I bought was a Les Paul.  I played at least 20 of them at various stores and then ordered the same model online to save money and still ended up sending four of those back until finally settling on one that just spoke to me.