how do i switch from gnome to kde?
 

i didn't know which one i wanted when i was installing and this is my first linux box...i'd like to switch over to KDE and see if i like it better but uh...how?

open up your package manager and install KDE
then when you logout go to session and change it to KDE then login and you will be in KDE

A bit of embellishment:

It seems that one of the biggest changes that new Linux users deal with is the almost universal power of the package manager---there is simply no equivalent in the Windows world. I have now trained myself to do searches in Synaptic before looking anywhere else---but it took many months to get used to it.

Alabama; glad to see you are getting settled in.....