Short: (TLRD;) cares about your time. Do Not Do what i did, which is "winged it" for years with no real direction. Just a bunch of projects with no real goal other than just getting better. If i got to redo it i would focus on 1 thing till it was "mastered", and then maybe move on. I got stuck into doing polar opposites…
try this script: http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/detriangulator hoefully it will clean your mesh to the extent that you can select the edgeloop
What are you interested in learning and improving? What would the extent be of a session in terms of time and exercise/teaching? What is your current level? :)