To be honest, the rooting process itself doesn't look intimidating. It's the threads that talk about flashing JB that worry me... especially where it gets into TWRPs, DALVIKs, and NANDROIDs
But I've got nothing better to do this weekend so maybe I'll spend Sunday figuring it out.
Lol...
TWRP - Team Win Recovery Project - It's another custom recovery you can use, just like we use CWM Recovery. It has the same options like Wiping your system, factory reset, flashing .zip files, etc... plus a few more nifty ones that I like and an interface that I prefer over CWM. You can find more info, screenshots, and download it from here:
TeamWin Projects - TWRP 2.2 | TeamWin
Dalvik - Your dalvik cache is used by the Java VM (virtual machine) and really.. that's all you need to know about it, lol. It stores temporary program info, as the normal cache does. When you flash a ROM you (should) do a Wipe data/factory reset in recovery, which wipes those caches anyway. When you flash something like a theme or kernel or other modification, you'll often be told you only need to wipe the caches, meaning both the cache and the dalvik cache.
Nandroid - a backup of your entire phone. Essentially an image of your phone in its current state, which you can use to restore to its present state if you flash a ROM after making it and decide you don't like the ROM, or some idea with themes or any edits or changes you make to your system. When you are in Recovery and select "Make a backup", you are making a nandroid. Make one before you flash any ROM or theme you might possible want to get back from, or before you make any system edits you are unsure of. They can be hefty files, exceeding 1 gig each, on your sd card, in the /clockworkmod folder if you use CWM or /twrp folder if you use TWRP, so you can make space whenever you want by deleting older ones you feel you no longer need or moving them to your computer over usb for safekeeping.
Those are all my words.. someone else can probably expand or explain better. Also definitely check out the
Android Central Dictionary for information on confusing terms. Lastly, when something seems complicated, it usually isn't, just take your time to read it and understand a few times. Sometimes you have to view this stuff like studying for your biology final.. you can't just cram it in one sitting and expect to do well, just learn what you can and read it again later, over time it will stick more and more