Welcome Kevin and glad you came out of lurkdom :)
If you do as Stan says, go to site options under your profile you can choose yes or no for all the different threads. If you click on yes it will allow posts to be sent.
BUT- at the bottom of each open box you reply in there is a check box that says
Email me replies to this post
IF you check that, and you have yes under that thread heading in the forum subscriptions they should email to you, but you have to have both done.
So it should be
Edit your profile->click site options tab->down to send notifications and check yes.
Then on any thread you want replies emailed to you, be sure to check the box at the bottom of the reply window.
You can also go down halfway on the forums page and click on forum subscriptions. That will bring the list of every category of threads. You can change the yes or no by clicking on it. Warning though- if you do this you will received an email everytime something is posted in that category. This will cause a ton of emails that may not be necessary.
Hope this helps!