Fairly new, need a little direction

To any programmer, I have mad respect for you. Hopefully some day I will be one of you gurus...

I had started playing around with VB 2005, figuring at first it would be a good starting point. Recently I switched to VC#. While I'm starting to get a better picture of how to program, I'm still strugling.

I've found tons of information on how to program, even example code, however no good general practice guides. For instance, the best way to move data between two forms. Or why you would use a MDI vs. two separate SDI's etc... I know there is more than one way to skin a cat in programming, but having a good example with code is nice. Is there a good book or website out there that covers these areas? As I've started to learn, I've learned about memory leaks and such. But, when I find that you can use variables to move data around your application, I've only seen once reference to releasing or clearing these variables so they don't take up memory. When should I clear them, etc...

I guess for a clear question, as in the above paragraph, is there any good guides either in books or websites that cover concepts of design? Perhaps that include examples...? Or, am I just stuck learning the language as a whole, then figuring out my own way by trial and error? I'd just assume get guided help along the way to reduce learning bad habbits, and avoid having to redo masive amounts of code later.