M-mode
Center AF point
Center-weighted metering
AWB
RAW (always)
ISO 200 (dependant on situation) as a starting point

EDIT... This is for my K-x... Sorry,misread thread... Although I can't see that using a K5 would change them much...

I have a canon shooting buddy who uses a 100mm macro for portraits all the time... He loves it...

Seconded!

The ebay leatherette was not self-adhesive after all...

So... I went at it with gusto and some super-glue... Needless to say disaster followed quickly...

I'm not very good at recovering cameras...

Fortunately I have found a local gent who is good at it... Will hopefully hear from him soon to see if my disaster can be rectified...

No it won't... macs have much better screens for viewing images...

I too have a windows7 based Laptop but if the screen is angled in a particular way during post-pro my prints come out looking s**t...

Macs don't have this issue... Whatever angle the screen is at the image is true... That's one of the reasons why so many working artists and photograghers use them...

This is the same as all the "UV-filter or not" threads...

I personally don't use screen protection... My screen does have a few surface scratches... If I upgrade my K-x will be kept as a second (night missions in rough neighbourhoods) camera, so I'm not overly bothered...

If I scratched a lens however... Mortified that I didn't have a UV on it!!

If you can afford a mac that's probably you're best bet...

I have an Acer-Aspire-One... It's just slightly bigger than a normal notebook but has 4Gb ram and a 300+ HD... Apart from Windows 7 (home ed) I just run Picassa (free google-ware)VLC (movie viewer) and Microsoft Office on it...
No disk-drive built in so I have an external which fits perfectly into its neoprene pouch... It's a tough little machine that goes everywhere with me (student)...

In terms of composition and creativity... I suggest buying the cheapest 35mm film SLR (Pentax should obviously be your first choice) you can (preferably with a 50mm len) and couple rolls of film (I like 400-speed as I find it can pretty much do anything)...

There's no instant gratification... There's no deleting mistakes... You have to get both exposure and composition right, right then...

And at nearly a fiver a film and a fiver to develop negative and get them scanned to disk it's not cheap either... But because it's expensive you should learn quick...

But beware... I did this and now shoot more film than digital... I find the wait to see the pictures very exiting indeed and have bought several film bodies (and plan on several more)

I just looked for some (as I was sure it was correct) and it seems you're absolutely right... Cheers for the reading!

I've believed that for so long!!

I bow to the infinite wisdom of the rest of the world

To the OP... Use flash if you want... I love flash... But I'd still opt for a large south-facing window with a net curtain... I'd still shoot RAW... I'd still shoot while the baby is sleeping... I'd still muffle the sound of the shutter... I'd still put my camera down and get my cuddle... And as the kid get bigger I'd still be the Uncle that give him/her too many sweets...

There's some useful info/tutorials at http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/