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Just borrowed a laser collimator to see how it worked. Found I could do the secondary very easily with the laser, then did the primary by eye and fine tuned with the laser. Am now waitingf to test my collimation on the stars. Overall, I think learning to do it by eye will help to understand what you are trying to achieve, which is hard to get following instructions.
If your stars are showing as points your alignment should be good enough.
Galaxies such as the Sombrero are fairly hard to track down, start off with large bright nebula and clusters. Eta Carina and the Jewell Box in Crux are two very easy one visible clearly in early evenings. Try and learn where Scorpius and Sagittarius are and cruise around them, there are lots of clusters and nebs to see. Even a small scope will have no trouble finding these bright objects.
The Greek letters are an old way of classifying stars, in most constellations Alpha was the brightest star, Beta the second brightest etc. Usually only the brightest stars have these letters and due to changes in the constellations over the years, they are not always accurate guides to brightness. A good reference for the various constellations is Collins Stars and Planets which I use and find very helpful.
Star parties are not noisy affairs, usually very friendly places and most people there will be pleased to answer questions and show off their gear and show you what can be seen, get along to one, you will not regret it.
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