I am an experienced traditional darkroom printer in black and white. I'm not perfect but I'm pretty good. Never did color with chemicals. Need to get more than casually OK doing color digitally. Frankly, all the articles and incomplete explanations of part of the process are driving me crazy. I am willing to invest considerable time reading something that deals with EVERYTHING. Looking for help finding it all written down in one place. Examples of issues....
1. Photoshop preferences. Where is an explanation of all of the settings, and why I want to pick the ones I do?
2. I have calibrated my monitor with a hardware calibrator. How can I make sure Photoshop is using the profile?
3. I use a Mac. Just what does ColorSync really do? I have read all the brochure level info about how wonderful it is. Do I want to use it?
4. How to I profile my scanner and make sure PS uses that profile for scanned input, but not for digital camera input?
5. Do I want to work in Adobe 1998, or sRGB for digital camera images, and does it screw things up to convert from one to another?
6. Paper. Can't find many Epson papers (I have Epson printers) locally, even at CompUSA. Tried some Kodak the other day, downloaded their profile, unclear EXACTLY what Epson printer settings to use. Told me to make all kinds of changes to PS preferences, without any info on why or whether I need to change everything for another paper.

These are just examples. I'm tired of fooling around and getting substandard results. I want to invest in getting it all set up right. I don't think I can do that without really understanding what I am doing. I expect to buy an expensive book if necessary. And almost surely a few bottles of good whisky!

Not looking for short answers or silver bullets. I want to invest the time, but not on a fool's errand. Suggestions? Many thanks.