With all your guys ranting, I decided an investment in one of the abundant canon 3rd party products was in order.
Playing with this around the house shows promise. I actually surprised myself with how natural I was able to make the lighting seem a couple times. Even still, I can't really make sense of the chart on the back and I find myself using my intuition more than the chart to meter my images. Also, I think the telescoping feature for 28-85mm is useless. So if you guys have any insights, do share. You should know by now I need all the help I can get when it comes to providing my own lighting.