Sims2 SimPE for dummies?

So I'm going to have to rebuild again now that I'm on a new computer, since I'm pretty sure that some of my Mac cc is not AL compatible and will cause things to blow up if I just pull over the whole game folder. Could one of the awesome Leefishers point me in the direction of a good SimPE tutorial for complete n00bs? My Google-fu is only coming up with "SimPE From The Ground Up," which is from 2005 and is probably not all that helpful anymore. Multiple simple tutorials are OK too. I've tried Googling some specific tasks and have come up with some tutorials that look helpful until I look at the date and see they're from 2007 or so. I am interested in learning how to:

Extract sims
Set recessive genetics
Set family ties (both within households and across households)
Change last names
Change household names
Set relationships, skills, badges, and so on

I know that I can do much of the last with the SimManipulator, and I'll use it if it's not easy to do in SimPE. But if it is and I've got it open anyway... I also know that the SimBlender can do the last name thing if you're willing to go through separate steps. However, I've heard that the SimBlender method of name changing isn't the safest method out there.

This is one of the clearest tutorials on extracting sims. It's really very easy, and exactly how I did your sims before. http://pixel-trade.livejournal.com/16091.html Don't you have them all uploaded? Or do you have some new ones?

This http://simpeforum.ambertation.de/sims2/Change-DNA and this http://www.lothere.com/verso/page/16 is what I used for changing genetics.

I just opened and set badges and skills in their given areas, hit commit and save.

I haven't changed a last name, but did find this: http://modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Ga..._Last_Name

Thanks for the tutorials, Jo! They look like they're just what I'm looking for. To answer your question, I have three (four?) new sims, and I'd like to extract Goldberg and Silent Lady.

Reading the Pixel Trade tutorial, it looks like I'll need to have the sims I want on my Bootcamp partition to make this work. If I put them in basegame outfits and slap them on blank lots which I then move to a new 'hood, that will only destroy the new 'hood, right? (Because moving occupied lots is Bad, Bad, Bad, I know.) It won't corrupt my other 'hoods on the shiny new machine?

I would imagine so although I know nothing about Macs or Bootcamps.
It will corrupt the hood you take them from and the hood you place them in, but it's all being tossed anyway, right?