I've always said I want to ride, but something always come up to sidetrack me from getting a bike. (tuition, bills, etc) But this is the year! I've made up my mind, it's now or never!
So from my quick research, I've narrowed down my choices to the following:
04-06 CBR600RR
or
04-06 ZX6R (636)
The main features I was looking for are obviously fuel-injection and a comfortable-for-a-sportbike ride (and of course the looks!).
If you want comfort with sporty looks for a first bike, a budget mid-size sportbike could fit the bill especially for a bigger guy. Remember this is your first/starter bike, not your last. Once you've built enough skills on it and maybe even drop it a few times!?, then upgrade to a more powerful and expensive bike.
Here are a couple of examples of mid-size budget sportbikes:
SV650:
Ninja 650R:
These bikes can do the 1/4 in mid 11 to high 11's so it's a little slower than the bikes you mentioned above but it cost less to buy (about $2-3 grand for 04-06 year range), cost less to insure, have better MPG and it offers a more natural standard sitting position so comfort is better on average.
And if it turns out that the standard sitting position works best for you and you want to replicate that on a RR liter bike (next bike?), it can be done too. For example, this zx10R with a LSL bar (a Z1000 bar would work for the ZX10 too):
Anyways, good to hear, good luck with the process and keep us posted.