Also, can somebody please tell me what the deal is with 'drinking the Kool-aid'? I see that a lot but wonder why.

The phrase Drinking the Kool-Aid means to become a firm believer in something, to accept an argument or philosophy wholeheartedly or blindly. The term orginated with the "Jonestown Massacre."

Origins

The term has its origins in the events of the Jonestown cult suicide. Jim Jones, the leader of the Peoples Temple, had persuaded followers to move to Jonestown, Guyana and found a commune. In November of 1978, he ordered the residents to commit suicide by drinking a flavored beverage laced with potassium cyanide. Those unable to comply, such as infants, and those unwilling to comply received involuntary injections. Over nine hundred died.
Present-day descriptions of the event often refer to the beverage, not as Kool Aid, but as Flavor Aid, a less-expensive product reportedly found at the site. Kraft Foods, the maker of Kool Aid, has stated the same. Implied by this accounting of events is that the reference to the "Kool Aid" brand owes exclusively to its being better-known among Americans. Others are less categorical. Both brands are known to have been among the commune's supplies: Film footage shot inside the compound prior to the events of November shows Jones opening a large chest in which boxes of both Flavor Aid and Kool-Aid are visible. Criminal investigators testifying at the Jonestown inquest spoke of finding packets of "cool aid" [sic; the error is presumably that of the stenographer], and eyewitnesses to the incident are also recorded as speaking of "cool aid" or "Cool Aid." However, it is unclear whether they intended to refer to the actual Kool-Aid–brand drink or were using the name in a generic sense that might refer to any powdered flavored beverage.

Use:

The earliest known use of the term in its figurative sense, is from a 1987 quote about former Washington, D.C., mayor Marion Barry in the Washington Post.
An earlier usage than 1987 can be attested at least as early as 1982 in the film The Slumber Party Massacre by Amy Holden Jones. In the scene where Valerie 'Val' Bates prepares Kool-Aid, she offers a glass to her sister and says, "As the famous Jim Jones once said: 'Should have been drinking Kool-Aid.'"
More recently, Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly is known for using the term in this manner.