Ok, so I got a Baofeng, now what?

Would the perfect title for the blog post I hope exists somewhere. I, like a few other posters, just grabbed one of these things. I also took the step of reading through a good chunk of Ham Radio For Dummies just to get a handle on the basics.

• What can I (legally) do with this thing without a license?

• Any pointers for learning the basics on this particular machine?

• I should read the manual cover to cover, right?

• Looks like it's easier to program from a computer, any tips on that?