This may be(probably is) in the wrong forum. I'd like to start automating things by beginning with my tv/mac mini setup. I've done some searching, and I'm sure I just couldn't find it because I think its out there. I would like the tv to behave like a mac display. i.e. I would like for the tv to turn on when the computer is woken, I'd like for the tv to turn off when it goes to sleep. I'd like to be able to control that as I would a monitor in the energy saving settings. I would also like to be able to control the tv's volume with the volume buttons on my keyboard or on the menu bar. I understand the codes that need to be sent to my tv, I'm just not sure how to make the computer recognize the tv as a display so that I can set a display sleep time, or how to make the triggers for wake and sleep. Later on I'd like to automate it to display certain things at certain times, but I think that will be easy enough to handle. Any help would be appreciated.

Tall order on some.
THe mini should have a DVI output (or HDMI depending on the generation) So there's your hook up to the TV if DVI, you'll need to run from the headphone jack to the TV for audio.

As for killing power to TV when the mini goes to sleep, that might be a toughy. You might be able to tap off one on the DVI/HDMI lines and trigger a relay. But those lines wont have enough power to run the relay directly, you'll need a transistor/mosfet to fire the trigger.

You can use iRed and IRtrans modules to send IR codes to your TV.
Or if your TV supports RS232 commands, you can go a bit further.
See this topic for my results: Indigo and Global Cache GC-100 control