Like photo john said, the kit lens isn't a total waste. Through some luck I got an xti for the price of a D40 (see my other post below) and I'm pretty happy with it.

Better, faster AF, faster operation and shot to shot, and more resolution (but that hardly matters). So here are a few shots with the kit lens, a little bit of cropping and sharpening here and there, but not too much. The first with PS, and the rest with Picasa..