Lots of us started with similar sizes and types of telescopes .
All you need now is the clouds and rain to bugger off and you'll have heaps of fun - if you don't know how to check the balance of the telescope (tube) , put the heaviest eyepiece and barlow in the focusor and loosen that worthless ALTITUDE "micro" adjustment - if possible and the nob that tightens the yoke's grip on the tube so the tube can move up / down effortlessly , now let go of the tube but keep you hand near , which way does the tube want to swing (up or down ?) .
If it swings up - the centre of balance is too far towards the "bottom" end of the telescope and visa versa. This is easy fixed :
you can hang some sinkers in a lttle bag off the other end to move the centre of gravity nearer the yoke.
or
you can work out the (sinker method) the centre of gravity (balance point) and then unscrew the two yoke points and relocate them either further up or down the tube , will require drilling 4 holes probably - that will fix the problem permanently. Ditch the Micro waste of time gadget.
Stick to powers no more 50x the size in inches of the big mirror. More than that and you are spreading the light out too much and not gaining anything in resolving details (or the max magnification is 2x size in mm)
http://starizona.com/acb/basics/equi...ification.aspx
Still with magnifications not more than 150-200x (you know how to work that out ? based on the focal length , the barlow power and the eyepiece "size").
MAG (x power) = telescope focal length x barlow power / eyepiece size .
The 4mm eyepiece will be hard to focus - not much eye relief (set that one aside).
The max I'd use is the 12.5mm eyepiece and the 1.5x barlow === 108x which will give very respectable views of Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, the moon and globulars and open clusters and nebulae.
Not much to see when looking at Venus no matter how big the scope.
The 12.5mm eyepiece and the 3x barlow will give you a very wobbly and faint === 216x and objects will move out of the field of very QUICK !!!
Probably worth while getting a small German Equatorial Mount , a EQ2 or similar for your telescope and ditching that
Altitude-Azimuth YOKE style mount and that very wobblely looking tripod ASAP.
You can add a simple RA drive to the EQ2 which will make observing more productive and fun, and permit you to play with some prime focus and piggyback style astrophotography (don't expect too much there with a EQ2).
http://www.pulsar-optical.co.uk/imag...Q2MOUNT261.jpg
an EQ2 is pretty basic but also dirt cheap.
a better option for you will be
http://www.pulsar-optical.co.uk/imag...-2MOUNT261.jpg an EQ2-3 or perhaps if want more capability and GOTO and plenty of capacity , a LX75 or a CG5 (both the latter are overkill for your current telescope - but you'll probably upgrade to a bigger telescope in a year or two , and then all you will need to do is buy a dob or APO and tube rings to mount it). If you buy a dob , the you'll have the option of either the dob mount or the GEM on a tripod depending on what you want to view or do .... a good way to go at the start.
You will quickly find that this hobby can rapidly become very expensive and play havoc with the bank balance or credit card balance. Some of us have telescopes and mounts and eyepieces and cameras that are easily worth more than our cars are !!!
If you ask the guys here who live in your city they'll put you in the know as far as local astroclubs and when the next viewing parties are , well worth tagging along , most astronomers love letting people view through their telescope at these events and are more than willing give advise.
Steer clear of places like KMART , TANDY, DICKSMITH , CAMERAHOUSE , CRAZYSALES when buying telescopes , guys in those places know absolutely nothing about telescopes or astronomy .... better off looking up places like BINTEL , ASTRO-OPTICAL , YORK and badgering them with questions - no such thing as a dumb question , get hold of ASTRONOMY and SKY + TELESCOPE (the american version is better I think).
Standing or sitting ?
well I'm little short fat bugger and my overhanging gut when standing for while makes my back sore , so I prefer to sit , not aways possible if viewing stuff that are very high in the sky , when I was younger I always stood and only sat when manually guiding for long exposures at prime focus or doing long exposure wide fields (sometimes up to an hour or even more in one hit .... being very still and avoiding bumping the tripod or telescope or mount is the crucial) , easier if sitting on comfy camp or director's chair.
Lot to be said for tossing a beach sheet or picnic blanket or a ground sheet down with a pillow and observing the night sky wiith a nice pair of binos (hand held) too.... especially if it's a nice dark cloudless night.