started to update docstrings to numpy standard

**NOT READY FOR MERGE**

Starting to convert the doc strings to use the [numpy standard](https://github.com/numpy/numpy/blob/master/doc/HOWTO_DOCUMENT.rst.txt). I wanted to post this so people can review and comment as I go. It does take a while, but having everything documented this way is going to be [*awesome*](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDRrjFjJ9fI). 

What do/don't you like about this formatting of doc strings?