Hey Rob! There are plenty of people who like to make the process seem complicated, and new brewer's tend to worry way too much about little things. So it can seem a bit intimidating before you've tried it. But, the bottom line is that brewing can be as cheap and easy as you want it or as expensive and complicated as you want it.
You really should check out the next brewday at MoreBeer in Riverside if you haven't been to one yet. Their German Hefeweizen extract kit is $29.95 + $5.75 for liquid yeast, and would be a good start. That'll give you 40 pints or 52 12oz bottles.
With a burner, a pot, and a chiller you can make very good extract beer. The other main things you'll need are a fermenting bucket and something to bottle or keg your beer in.
If you want to get your feet wet and try it, I'd be glad to help you out. I live in Moreno Valley, so we're close enough. My inlaws are visiting from Germany for the entire month of Oktober, but I'd be happy to bring some of my equipment to your house and help you brew a batch as of November. In the meantime, you could be gathering some of the needed items. I'd even be willing to loan you a fermenting bucket and bottling bucket to save you from buying a kit until your sure you want to brew.
If you want to do this, you'll need to decide what you'll do with your beer once its made. If your going to bottle, you'll need bottle caps, a capper and bottles (start drinking beer that comes in brown bottles that don't have twist off caps - maybe buy some German Hef's in 500ml bottles). You can pick up the other stuff when you buy your extract kit.
You'll need to find a cool place to store your bucket of beer while it's fermenting, preferably somewhere that can hold a consistent temp of 68-70 degrees for a couple weeks. There are methods for keeping it cool enough, so don't sweat this too much.
If you'd rather do it on your own, I'd be happy to give you my phone # and you can call me if you get stuck.