Thanks for your positive support everyone... It's a bad situation to be in.

Believe me, if I were confident enough to do a job of this nature on my own, I would have. I don't really have an ideal location to perform a job like this on my own for that matter either... I've got a gravel driveway on a bit of a slope, so you mix gravel and an uneven surface, and someone who's never done anything that in-depth as far as a transmission. When I had my old 90 Wolfsburg Jetta that I could clunk around in as a beater when I first got this particular GTI, I would have dove head first underneath the car and tried to do it myself before I would take it anywhere and pay high dollar labor costs, but I want the job done right on my 2003, and I'm not trying to take any chances--especially since it's my only car at this point in time, it's daily driven, and it's my mode of transportation. I can't afford for it to be down any more than necessary..

but anyway, thanks guys!