Essential installs

I've just installed or will be installing shortly

• Nonfree Unrar app - I realize that many would take an idealogical stance against using closed-source, proprietary software but my understanding is that it may have more functionality and that's where my priorities lie.  I'd rather not make sacrifices in functionality just in the name of being a FOSS soldier.  So, the closed-source unrar utility can be installed by:
• sudo apt-get install unrar
• Chrome/Chromium (I chose Chromium simply because it's in the repositories, and then I set up syncing through options>personal stuff and also selected "never save passwords" because I use lastpass for that).
• Lastpass (for password management)
• Tilda (for easy access to terminal for quick command-fu)
• Terminator (tiled terminal emulator, for when I'm actually doing heavy command-driven work)
• Replace Transmission with Deluge (I like the plugin that blocks certain IPs)
• Nicotine (a Soulseek client.  Best p2p music network in my opinion, specifically for those with obscure tastes).
• Replace Rhythmbox with Banshee (only because I'm constantly told how great it is.  I'm still getting used to not using Amarok after giving up on KDE four years ago, and have in the past liked Exaile).
• Replace F-Spot with Shotwell (less cluttered interface, probably a bunch of other advantages that I'm not familiar with)
• Gnome-Do (super key [read: Windows key]+space bar for access to all sorts of commands and applications.  Very extensible.  Endlessly useful.) Hint: in settings, make sure Gnome-Do is launched at startup and make sure that you select the option for Quiet Mode.  If you don't do this and don't change some defaults in Tilda, you will have a bunch of junk on your screen when you first boot up after installing these apps.
• Musicbrainz Picard - A music tagging application specifically tailored to be most suitable for full albums.  It looks up the closest match to your album in their database (account needed) and will tag and rename files for you.  I tweaked the settings which you can see if you follow the above link.

Will update as I add more things.