Hey!

I would advise getting in with maybe 20% of what you intended to spend ASAP and try out as much such as you can - ex: a few online wallets like coinbase.com and blockchain.info, get one or 2 of the desktop clients and hit those too.  Also allocated some BTC to spending and tipping (like using the Reddit bot http://www.reddit.com/r/bitcointip/comments/13iykn/bitcointip_documentation).

You'll prob learn a lot by DOING (I know I did) even if it's w/ $20 in XBT and you also be helping Bitcoin (and yourself later ;-)) grow.

Enjoy, it's an awesome ride, there are no losing positions so long as you're doing and learning - that's my main philosophy!