oh how I remember the days.
1) Read and learn about you device
2) jump head first into the kitchen
Really the guys here have made it ALMOST impossible to mess up the kitchen. Download the kitchen and go through the readme file several time. The hardest time I had was figuring out what programs I wanted. Don't be scared, give it a shot. Its worse than smoking; its harder to stop
the newest is 3.5.1.0.3 I think