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Welcome Ryan!
I agree with everything everyone has said so far, best way to align your finder is to point the main scope at a distant object (I use the tip of a distant telegraph pole) then lock off both axis of your mount so the main scope stays on that spot, and use the fine-tune knobs on your finder until it's pointing at the same object you see through your main scope... Then, when you're using the scope at night, anything you aim at through your finder should be seen through the main scope...
It's important to have realistic expectations of what you'll see through the scope, don't expect to see the colorful galaxies and nebulae you see in photos, they're the domain of huge scopes, long exposures and years of experience. Most of what can be seen through a scope is faint grey-white smudges or blobs (what we call faint fuzzies). The moon is an excellent starting point as there is an amazing amount of detail to be seen, then progress to the planets (the first look at the rings of Saturn is something most astronomers will never forget, likewise with the bands and moons of Jupiter), and then finally to the faint galaxies, nebulae and clusters... Your eyes need to be trained how to pick up the fine details, and rushing into it will only lead to frustration.
Welcome to IIS, and to Astro, feel free to ask any questions you have, everyone here is always happy to help.
Davin (from Facebook)
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