Dave, when and if you decide to get fluorescent lights, get the ones with an electronic ballast. They are a little more expensive, but they are the direction the fluorescent light field is going. Guys at Home Depot talked us into a set of them for our basement den. They are quite a bit brighter than conventional tubes. The price is supposed to be coming down, but it is not that much more. Apparently the old style is supposed to quit being sold, the fixtures at least. Just a thought.

We just built a garage, as well. Just got the wiring permit today. Ours is 24X28, I think. It is detached from the house, with a gambrel roof. We used to have a big one with 12 foot ceilings. It was nice, but in terms of SQ FT, this is bigger, counting the top floor. We built ours out over a ravene, so we had to deal with the same foundation problems as you. We found a neat, cost effective way to make them look presentable, though. We had a company coat the blocks with mortar, dye it different colors, then cut it out to make it look like rocks. Looks real from 10 ft. I'll see if I can get some pics up of ours tomorrow.