Question: Can anyone point me to a tutorial for electronic noobs that 
explains how to use op-amps and what I can do with them, besides
amplification?

Answer: 
I know it's not all online, but [the Art of Electronic by Horowitz and Hill](http://books.google.com/books?id=bkOMDgwFA28C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs%5Fnavlinks%5Fs#v=onepage&q=&f=false) is fantastic. It's basically the only book you need for the first 2 years of learning electronics (especially if you don't have any math requirements). The second edition of the book was published back in the late 80s and a lot of the example circuits using op amps are spectacular examples.
Falstad [Falstad Circuit index](http://www.falstad.com/circuit/e-index.html) has an excellent Java applet that allows you to do virtual prototyping with various types of circuits.

Has a nice section on **Op amps**, whats great is the built in O'scope, volt and current meters. Right clicking on a template component in the applet brings up menu where you can experiment/substitute with different values, add remove components.