www.microchip.com - (buy)PICKIT2 Debug Express
www.microchip.com - (download)MPLAB IDE 8.00 (or whatever is the newest)

www.melabs.com - (buy)PicBasicPro Compiler

www.mecanique.co.uk - (download)Microcode Studio (or buy the full version)

www.your_favorite_electronics_outlet.com - PIC18F4550, USB capable chip.

Along with a few downloads from here, a bunch of research and a fairly steep learning curve, shouldn't take too long and shouldn't be too painful.

The amount of pain you'll incur (both on yourself and others) in the process of building this project is equally and inversely proportional to the amount of research and searching you do, whether it be here or using Google (or whatever).