Nd5 on move 5 led to the tactical trap at move 7. when dealing with the sicilian it is best to stick to opening lines. I play the sicilian all the time and have a really good track record with it. my hardest games tend to be when my opponnents stick to the main lines.  All in all your analysis is pretty accurate, but truthfully you were down a whole piece with no positional or time compensation for you by move 8. The idea of a Ra3 is to provide defense to a hanging backwards pawn on c3, with possibillities of of bringing your other rook to a1.

on move 3 better was.. 3. Bb5 or d4

7.bg5?! loses a bishop.. he is now a minor up which most people would lose from easily

by 11. Rg1 loses.. resignition would be good here

15. fxg3 makes your position even worse!

Your question 23. Ra3 wouldav been better due to.. (im pretty sure)

 Nd5 didnt really lead to the tactical move.. it was Bg5 that lead to it.., Nd5 would have been fine if it wasnt for Bg5, and you may have a point with Ra3 protecting the backwards pawn but can't it be played later?

but of course its probably the best move in this position.

Just that tactical oversight in the opening. Your play seemed pretty solid apart from that. But being a piece down for no compensation is just too much room to make up and unfortunately your opponent didn't slip up!

edit : hey, it looks like slack is right and exd5 keeps white right in the game.

Hey Chris, what a trap to lose that piece.  It wasn't clear without some calculations what was going to happen.  I might have fallen for it too, Bg5 looks like a good, active attacking move at first.  Couple things, I'm looking at 10. h4.  Could you share your thinking upon making that particular move?  I'm puzzled.  You hinted at playing g3 soon.  Were you wanting to launch a pawn storm at his castled position?

Couple other suggestions/remarks.  What chances you might have had after the piece trap seemed to really evaporate when you offered the Queen trade.  The general rule when behind in material is to avoid exchanging, unless it gives you some worthy compensation.  This particular exchange simplified the position, which favored him.  And it saddled you with the doubled g-pawns you grew to love.  :)  In hindsight, I might have played Ke2 there.  It looks like this is going to be the best place for your King to hang out (notice how his light Bishop is gone, it can't threaten a pin of your Queen-King. 

As the game went on, you seemed to hesitate on where to attack.  You wanted to attack his Kingside, but why?  Did you want to do that for any other reason besides that's where his King was?  This might be something to think about.  A Kingside attack is direct.  It's glorious, stresses the defender, and fun for you, but not always called for.  After all, unless neglected, it's likely to be the toughest area on the board to win.  Sometimes the weakest area of the enemy's position is on the Queenside against a enemy's Kingside King.  You're not attacking for checkmate in those cases, but aiming for an strategic advantage which you can exploit for more meaningful advantage.  Maybe you want to gain an open file for a point of invasion, and you can't do it successfully on the K-side.  Perhaps you have a chance to take some territory and spring a passed pawn on its way to queening. 

Anyways, thanks for sharing your game again and trying to improve.  I would challenge you in your next few attacking games to strongly consider why you plan to attack where you do.

Wow, thanks for the replies!

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have a little time to reread your comments and consider the suggestions more carefully. I would do it now but I'm just plain beat! I've been wading in a cranberry bog all day with a heavy ol' camera.

Looks like 8. exd5 could have saved your ass. After 13. ...Qxh4 you could have tried 14. Ke2 and used your rooks to attack along the h-file. So-called mistakes like dropping the h-pawn are only bad if you don't find some way around them. 14. Qg3 was worse than 10. h4 to be honest, because it was like you were saying "Okay, I give up."