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Gems are super simple once you get the hang of it. Look into installing RVM[0]. It will let you manage multiple versions of ruby at once. Also get familiar with Bundler[1] and watch the Rails 3 screencast[2] that explains it.

[0] https://rvm.beginrescueend.com/ [1] http://gembundler.com/ [2] http://rubyonrails.org/screencasts/rails3/bundler-action-mai...

There's always Bundler (http://gembundler.com/) to make your life a lot easier. Prior to this it was a bit of a scramble to get everything installed properly.

Take bricestacey's advice, use RVM. I was in the same boat as you when getting started with Ruby - it seemed like I was always fighting with gems and other dependencies - "there has to be a better way!", I thought. And there was...

I read this article[1] and it changed my life.

[1]http://sirupsen.com/get-started-right-with-rvm/