[mat,v]

Hi all
about 12 months ago i bought a canon 40D as i had injured my back and suddenly had a lot of spare time on my hands,,im getting my head around the camera pretty well and have some good lenses,a few weeks back i started taking photos of the moon,,big mistake,,now i'm hooked,,i recently purchased a meade lx90 8" SCT autostar etc in mint condition from ebay and plan on getting involved in the astrophotography side of things,i believe i will need a t-mount and t-adapter for prime focus,,but would i be better off getting an off-axis guider and illuminated reticule instead of the t-adapter,this way it should be easier for me to get accurate alignment and keep an eye on the tracking a little better,,My scope uses 1.25" eyepieces,but ive read in the forums that i should buy a 2" visual back and noise piece adapter to prevent vignetting.
My ep's are 1.25" so i should be able to use them for observing,,or would i be better off purchasing a 2" eyepiece kit to view with the above 2" conversion.
I am happy to take my time learning things slowly, but i would rather buy the right gear straight up and not replace items 6 months down the track,,
My scope arrived last week and it has been raining ever since so i have used this time to study heaps of forums,books etc,,and now i'm getting pretty antsy about getting out there and sinking my teeth into it,,so can somebody tell me how to get rid of these bloody clouds haha,,
PS,,I absolutely love this website,,plenty of info and many good laughs too..