Not patronizing at all. I'm starting just above zero on this. Good with tech in general and persistant, but it's been a long time since I did any real programming at all. I think the concepts and timer stuff should be pretty similar to what I did in the past with Arduino, just with more set points. This is a project I did years ago and actually went on to have PC boards made and did a small run for other hobiests that wanted to tinker.
http://www.sdreefs.com/forums/showth...er-version-.01. Getting my Pi built and and trying to get myself up to speed on some of the basics now.