I think the difficulty of using a dSLR is hugely exaggerated. Once you learn the relationship between ISO, shutter speed, and f-stop in terms of exposure and how each alters the image...it's self-explanatory, a matter of practice and honing technique from there. I actually think it's a lot easier to learn this on a pre-1990s manual focus film SLR and with an external meter because you have to set everything yourself. On a digital SLR it's just heaps of nebulous "modes" that obscure what's really going on. But if you're intelligent and motivated you can learn this fast and there's plenty of literature online or, better yet, in print. You can also just buy expensive gear and set everything to auto mode, which, sadly, works half the time, whether you know what you're doing or not.
I also think the capabilities of point-and-shoot cameras are hugely underrated. The s95 or something should be a couple stops grainier than the t1i (I've never used either, could be wrong) but then its lens is a couple stops faster. If you want to take "good snapshots" the s95 may be much better and much smaller, but if you want to take up photography as a hobby (or business) a dSLR offers flexibility at the cost of money, size, and having to buy more lenses down the road. I doubt resolution is any different between any 12+ APS-C megapixel cameras for 95% of shots and grain is probably "acceptable" for both, so you should be okay with either one. I have the t2i and it's nice, but it resides in that weird part of the market where it's too crippled to be prosumer, too bulky to be a point and shoot. But it's REALLY small by SLR standards!
