Well I ended up getting the 17-40 and a Tamarac 28-75...the latter for doing some portraits.  I of course will have to skip on the 500mm telephoto for a few years.
 
I will be test driving them this weekend.  Look for a portrait of my daughter, and who knows what else I will come up with on the wide angle.
 
Oh the Tamaron is also a macro, a wide angle macro...most cool..about $300

Thank you all for your input!!!