Welcome aboard ppb.
The N8i is a great scope IMHO, especially optically, but has its quota of quirks and user tricks to learn. The manual (downloadable from the Celestron website
http://www.celestron.com/c2/downloads.php, scroll down the right-hand list), is OK but not perfect.
To get yourself up the learning curve as quickly and painlessly as possible, I'd recommend that you also thoroughly explore Mike Swanson's excellent NexStar Resource Site:
http://www.nexstarsite.com/index.html