Learning how to use PPT properly

Well, this is not my first time using presentation software--I have used it in my classroom for some lectures. I've chosen to use it on occasions where I feel that I cannot draw something as well as an online/digital photo can--so I've really only used it for pictures and text. Slowly, I learned how to fade in my words one by one--so I could speak to my class in between points. I found that to be a very important feature when teaching. But, I never did anything interesting. Quite frankly, I never had the time to sit there and fool around with my presentations. It took me long enough to write my notes and find appropriate explanatory photos.

I started tonight with this:
http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/nextstepsinpowerpoint/ss/sound.htm

An online tutorial on how to add sound:
http://www.impatica.com/movies/impatica/333/Adding-Sound-XP-v333/Adding-Sound-Introduction-XP-Version.html

I really liked this tutorial that a classmate suggested:
http://www.internet4classrooms.com/pp_animate_chart.htm

And, I used this one for a while playing with little fun animations. As I mentioned on the Sakai discussion board, many of these little animations are useless, but they can certainly make a presentation more fun. Many websites seem to warn though, that users of ppt shouldn't have too much fun. . .A ppt presentation is meant to relay facts, and too many "fun" aspects can be distracting. It's true, animations, sound, etc. cannot be overdone in a lesson or the students will lose focus on the importance of the text and pictures. It will be fun to implement more interesting title pages with these new little skills.
http://www.sresd.k12.mi.us/tis/training/powerpointsound.pdf

That's all for tonight....what is wrong with me? Up until 1:30 am??? Geez. . .