*Powers up Balhatain*
Oh and about the tips on what you should start out doing first thing to make the caps you need to get off to a good start. I agree with the minerals suggestion but add the next step. Make 10mm or shotgun shells [no profession required and earns 100xp per]. With only 2 charisma I am able to sell them for max [9 caps ea] to one of the merchants [I wont say who for obvious reasons]. You craft 50 shells at a time using 6 minerals and 1 metal part. My first hour of playing I had a tent simply from mining one time [12 minerals and 2 ores] crafting 100 shells, selling them for 900 caps and shoveling some shit for the rest of the money, then I banked the money, stood in NCR and offered to buy 10 hides for 1k caps. Within minutes someone offered to sell them and now I have my tent! So simple.
For some reason though this merchant stopped trading with me now all of a sudden, not sure why. When I choose barter it just closes the dialog window completely. Maybe I exploited her too much? *shrugs* Oh well, point is there are always great opportunities lurking about, you just have to keep your eye out for them and think outside the box sometimes. That is part of the fun for me.