Reply To: What course to take next in my specific situation?

Don’t discount the older courses. The Blender UI is different, but all the concepts taught are timeless and you learn so much. I totally recommend you download the Blender version being used if you want to follow along, if not just watch them, you wont regret it. Here’s links to golden old courses:

https://cgcookie.com/courses/introduction-to-hard-surface-modeling

https://cgcookie.com/courses/short-film-character-production

https://cgcookie.com/courses/introduction-to-character-modeling

https://cgcookie.com/courses/modeling-a-post-apocalyptic-vehicle

https://cgcookie.com/courses/creature-modeling-for-production

https://cgcookie.com/courses/modeling-a-sci-fi-helmet-in-blender

https://cgcookie.com/courses/modeling-a-motorcycle

And on a separate note, even the master Blender modelers have to first sit down, think and plan what’s the best approach to model something. 

Now from the newer courses, one of the most complete for modeling is Pothead and a couple others:

https://cgcookie.com/courses/pothead-create-a-hard-surface-character-in-blender

https://cgcookie.com/courses/basemesh-create-stylized-characters-quickly-with-blender

https://cgcookie.com/courses/catch-creating-a-pokeball-in-blender

https://cgcookie.com/courses/astray