I learned that I'm not crazy for having been confused by the double-speak I was taught in college about "observation" in Quantum Mechanics and that maybe there's a community where I can get straight answers to things.

According to RolfAndreassen:

'Observation' is a shorthand (for historical reasons) for 'interaction with a different system', for example a detector or a human; but a rock will do as well. I would actually suggest you read the Quantum Mechanics Sequence on this point, Eliezer's explanation is quite good.

According to Douglas_Knight,

I advocate in place of "many worlds interpretation" the phrase "no collapse interpretation."

Thanks Less Wrong.