[maddog]

I suggest one of those little wire feeds that lincoln & hobart/miller make. They run off 110v and they are very easy to use. They can do up to 1/4" Even larger if you preheat though the welds are not the best. I think they run about $150. Even if you do later upgrade to a bigger rig, its always nice to have something light that runs on a regular wall outlet. If you have $550 you can get a mig version which is very nice. Definitely go for a quality name brand. Avoid all the cheap stuff.

I would stay away from stick until you can get 220v. Stick is much tougher to learn and very tricky with low currents. The fatter the rod the higher the current which means a more stable arc. AC is trickier too. If you do get a stick box, get DC if you can. Theres also a wider range of rods for DC and smiths often weld funny metals together.

Any kind of welding takes practice. Its not a glue gun. The wire feeds are easiest but you still need to spend some time running beads and evaluating. I used to run beads for 20 mins every evening.