NYC by evening?

Be gentle, these are my first attempts at 'sunset' photos.

I like the third one best. The tighter crop makes it more interesting. The issue I have with the first image is that tree that seems to distract me. My eye wants to go to the buildings in the background but keeps getting drawn to the tree.

Yeha, there was just something about that tree against the background that I liked, lol. It was an overcast evening and I wanted to wait till it got darker out but I had my kid with me and he wasn't all that cooperative

That's where bribery comes into play.

Luckily, my kid is 16 and likes photography so outings like that work much more in my favor.

Yeah, mine is 5 and it was already past his bedtime, lol.

This is actually my first try at "landscape" shots, where exaclty do you focus and how do you set youf fopcus points?

For these shots i would recommend bracketing next time. These all seem a LITTLE underexposed.

I have no idea what that is...

As I understand "Bracketing" consists of taking several shots at different exposure values + or - then choosing the best one.
You can manually do this by changing ev or use "AEB" on the Rebel xt.
While playing around with the Rebel xt, I found that you can set it to take 3 pics automatically at user set levels of exposure compensation.
It's called AEB automatic exposure bracketing it's availible in the creative modes menu 2 used with problem lighting or when you want to vary it a bit to see what exposure looks best to you.

Thanks!!

But i also suspect taht your shots suffered from being taken during a hazy evening, which is why they look kind of "dull"

absolutely, it had poured all day and I was bored, at the hint of sun I ran to take these.

Another thing i could suggest is the old trusty "rule of thirds"

When you place the point of interest smack dab in the middle of an image, it is a little drab and boring. Instead, make sure to place your focal point in one of the four "thirds" corners.

That is:

top right - 1/3 from the right edge, 1/3 from the top
top left - 1/3 from the left edge, 1/3 from the top edge
etc.
etc.