Drop into the KGB Secure Eve forum. There are a bunch of tutorial threads in there that can get you going. There is a very steep learning curve associated with the game, be you should get the hang of it pretty quick. Taxman is a good resource, as he has helped a bunch of new players get established.

Time investment is basiclly non-existent. I havent been in game much at all recently, only to change skills and take down a 1 billion isk carrier, completely ruining someones day! Your skills train in realtime, and do not stop training when you log off. So bascilly its log in, set a skill to train. (it will train to completion, unless you switch it. And if you switch skills while they are mid training say .. it's 50% done, you don't lose what you have already trained so you can come back to the skill at it will continue from 50%.)

The only real investment you need to make is in aquiring isk (cash). Which is really easy once you get your self into a good ship. Just realize that your not gonna be able to fly alot of the bigger ships off the bat...but that doesn't mean you can't have fun. You can have just as much fun in a fast frigate squad as yuo can in a battleship fleet, probably more.

I agree with chaulootz. My online time is limited and the skill training that happens while offline is awesome. The ingame tutorial is good and the local knowledge is excellent. The game is steep at first but once you get the hang of it there really is a lot to do and see out there. And as said the small ships are fun... Try it out and it will keep you busy...