ok thanks that gives me more to think about but when i unwrap it and the uvs are laying on top of each other, how do I know which direction to pull them away from each other? In the video the guy pulls his away and inward and I did that but I was just going through the motions and didn't know if it would work or not. you know what i mean?

there are so many unknown things i am doing without me knowing WHY i am doing them [just following the tut] or what IMPACT they will have it's hard to tell a bad action from a good action if you know what i'm trying to say.

i'll look at the cubic mapping. i tried automatic mapping just for the heck of it and it made my uvs all jumbled up so wasn't sure if that was the right option for me. like it takes a square i unwrapped and make it into a box within a box and that threw me for a loop.