I received my books and have decided to redesign based on the information I've read thus far (which isn't even half the material yet). What an amazing reference for people to have.

Ill be switching to 8x8 for posts and 8x10 for headers. I'll also likely change the truss system and lose the upper loft. I should be able to design a better structure, with the same sq. footage at half the price! Well worth the cost of the books.

Thanks for the help guys. I appreciate it and will update the thread as necessary.