Homing in on new camera selection

With a baby on the way and the blog popularity rising, the other month I started looking for a digital SLR. I thought I had made my decision, when Nikon releases the press release on their new D90. This dslr has the sensor of a pro camera, but with a price closer to the consumer models. Normally I wouldn't be looking to spend this much on a camera, the blog doesn't make that much $. But this one will serve me two purposes. I can shoot great pictures, and also snag the occasional youtube clip for the blog or of the baby for our parents. All without having to lug around our camcorder and do the tape to pc conversion.

My friend who shoots almost exclusively with Nikon, brought up a good question, which lens do I want? The camera has an option of being bought with an 18-105mm lens, which gets descent wide angle, and zoom to about 6x for those of us used to point and shoot terms. However, the photo community is in love with Nikon's 18-200mm lens. It is a step up in quality construction. Read that to mean also more than double the price. I could look on ebay, but then you don't know exactly the quality of any used equipment.

I just need to make friends with a Nikon rep and offer up blog posts for a long term equipment demo!