Congratulations Tony. The 8" dob is the newbies scope of choice, able to get lots, but still small enough thats it's not a chore to setup.
I used an 8" for 6 months with a 25mm and a 10mm eyepiece and guess what, I probably used the 10mm maybe 4 times. Most of your viewing will be with the 25mm, only go for more power when the seeing is very good and steady or for looking at the planets.
Robs advice with the planisphere is excellent, learning the night sky is a lot of fun.
As far as taking pictures, this scope is really on suitable for some lunar and planetary work. Mike has an article here
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/63-201-0-0-1-0.html
That has some hints as to what can be done. Beware, this is a slippery slope with much risk of combusting banknotes at the bottom!
As for observing times, I am finding that I need to plan my observing. While dark skies are great, there is still much that can be done even with the moon in the sky. There are many bright open clusters that can be seen with a moon affected sky and it is fun to compare how ol' Luna changes their appearance. So plan your viewing to match, dim objects for dark skies, brighter objects for bright skies. And there is nothing wrong with lunar observing. Some of us get a bit hairy-chested about seeing the furthest dimmest objects, but there is lots to see and learn on the moon.
Malcolm