[TxMt] primer on markdown & textmate

[nachodog at mac.com]

General Comments/Questions
=======================
1.  Textmate's web preview integration with Markdown is awesome.   
This feature has drawn me into textmate.
2.  I am so tired of bloated Microsoft Word files.  Other than the  
files that people send you, has anyone adopted Textmate as their  
primary text editor?  It seems like a fantastic editor for code, but  
how is it for someone in education?

Writing a Markdown document in Textmate
=================================
I understand the basic principals of markdown, but typing the code  
(albeit, simple) seems burdensome.  Is it possible to:

*  highlight selected items and add a "*" (bullet) at the beginning  
of the list?
* create triggers for the various markdown codes?

Markdown Conversion
=================
I have had great success in putting markdown document on the web.   
What are recommendations for converting a markdown document into a  
text file?

Thanks,
Stephen