Hello @brent.breaux and welcome on board the Steem train, it's a great place to be. From what you are saying, I think you may find the blogging satisfaction over here that you never found 'long ago'. The reasons you list for coming to Steemit seem very sound to me and I wish you well in finding your feet and like-minded people.

I wouldn't think you were too late to the party either! Someone recently said that if this were a football game, well they are still singing the national anthem :).

As a suggestion here is a link to some steem beginners video tutorials by @flauwy.

Namaste