Asynchronous Sockets...

SadHi, I am having alot of difficulties understanding how to do socket programming in VB.net 2005 express ide! I am trying to create a simple irc client( at the moment) that connects to an irc server successfully, then shows the raw commands in a RitchTextBox. Once I figure out the sockets part I'll parse the commands later.
Could anyone direct me to some Articles/Reading that can explain socket programming better than MSDN or if I have overlooked something in MSDN that very well explains this task simply please show me the way
-ty