Hello! New Motorola Droid User

Only two days ago I visited my local Verizon store to pick out my new phone. After two years of the LG env2 and two years of something much crappier before that, I was pretty set on a smartphone. I've always been a heavy tech user that enjoys fooling around with anything I can get my hands on, doing things that range from actually functional to things that are just cool to show off, so the Android platform seemed like the obvious choice.

I was a little disappointed that the HTC Incredible was sold out everywhere, but much to impatient to wait for one, so I settled for the Motorola Droid. Luckily, the thrill of going from a simple cellphone who's most exciting feature is a QWERTY keyboard to any smartphone was great enough for me to enjoy my new Droid regardless. Since I got the phone, I've been tweaking everything perfectly to my liking and setting up apps to do all kinds of crazy stuff that continues to blow my mind and make my friends horribly jealous.

So now I find myself on these forums, ready to soak up as much information as possible and get the absolute most out of my Droid. I don't really know if it's appropriate to ask a few questions here, but I thought I'd give it a shot anyway:

First off, how do my fellow Droid users get the most out of their battery? Are there any good apps for switching Wi-Fi and such on the fly? Locale looks cool, but is it $10 cool? Speaking of the battery, will it wear down at all by being plugged in constantly? I know it's standard for devices to stop charging once they charge fully, but I've always been nervous about leaving things too long. I'd really love to use my car charger and dock to listen to Pandora on road trips.

I'm also a bit curious about tethering. I'd love to be able to use my Droid as a source of internet through USB and also as a Wi-Fi hotspot for my housemates when our unreliable cable internet decides to go out, but I've read that Verizon charges extra for tethering. Is this true? I feel like I should be able to do it for free since I'm already paying $30 extra a month for the unlimited data package (which is the same price I paid for the same speed cable internet at my old apartment).

Finally, I read the details about the Froyo update and I'm very excited. Is there a time estimate on when it will be available for the Droid? Also, what has the trend for updates been thus far? I hear there are some phones that are still on 1.6. Is this because they've become too outdated to benefit from the updates or have they just not been rolled out yet? I ask because I'd really hate to fall behind in updates because my Droid gets too old (though I suppose I'll likely get a new phone in two years anyway, so hopefully they last until then at least).

Sorry if the questions are inappropriate for this forum and feel free to ignore them if so. I'll gladly seek answers in the other sections, I just thought I'd give my welcome party a little something more to say than hello.