Welcome! I just bought my Blue Onyx Pearl 2006 xB six weeks ago, so I'm just getting started, as well. I got the auto transmission, cause I didn't want to be shifting all the time. I'm getting old and lazy. But I also kind of thought of it, and still do, as a little truck or van. And I wouldn't get a manual in a truck, either. Unless I lived in the mountains, which I don't.....
But I digress! Welcome.