Agreed, everything is hazy and blurred in the beginning. It takes time to read and re-read before any of it starts to make sense. I personally am with Verizon and I flashed my 6700 and went to the Clean and simple AKU 3.5 for any Apache which is located here
http://www.ppcgeeks.com/clean-and-si...che-t3254.html
It is fast and stable and stripped of most of the junk you are NOT going to use. This allows for my space for you to add you own apps. There is a huge list of mods and reg edits for 'optimizing' you PPC. The link to it is
http://ppcgeeks.com/wm5-registry-hac...tion-t113.html. You will surely find some interesting things in there. But like Shaska said, keep you OEM ROM close by and be sure to back up your phone frequently. I use Sprite Backup so you may want to look for it. PM me for more info on it. You say you have a "verizon xv-6700" and Shaska talks about a "Sprint Default AKU 2.2" so be careful and make sure you get what you need and not something for the wrong carrier.
If you have Qs, try to search around a bit first but feel free to ask for guidance and/or clarification.