Accepted a side quest during the tutorial that I didn't want to accept, then abandoned it...so now it's just there...and I guess I have to complete it. And when I loaded an earlier save and looked through the various homes in goodsprings, I found gear that would have been more useful than a varmint rifle or pistol...like a laser pistol...and a shotgun... So the mistake would be failing to get the proper gear that would help me later on...