I put mine down by it every time I come inside and everything is still working. I just bought a Sigma lens, that's what my 28-300 is, it's winter here, and it was fine when I got it.

It should be fine, I don't see what could go wrong unless it gets wet or extremely cold and isn't let to warm up before it's used.

i mean when they ship it wouldnt be in the cold mostly will its being transported?

so if put the box by a humidifier thingy for a few hours it will be fine?

It should be fine. Just don't try and use it as soon as you get it.

If you really want to learn how to use the camera and take good photos, I'd recommend this book that will teach you everything: http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Digital-Photography-David-Busch/dp/1598634011/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262344233&sr=8-1

Honestly, go on youtube and watch some videos on the basics of photography first... things like terms and concepts that will apply to pretty much every camera out there.
After that, look for your specific model and find out how to change the settings you learned about.

Once you have that down, just go out and take tons of pictures. Take multiple pictures of the same thing and change 1 setting at a time so that you can see the difference that the setting makes on your end result.