Matt,
My first mac was a PowerBook 165c when it debuted. I did somanythings to it that I ended up knowing how the system work, I did every haking I saw in mac publications, I even hacked the whole system with Resedit to make it look err... mor wierd than cool.
Stil, I keep doing some risky things some times -not as often as I used to- and they do not put in danger valuable data. Even thought, I have always taken responsability for what I did and do.
Messing with your computer will give you experience and you will learn a lot. I believe that the only mistake you did was the title of your column "And They Said the Mac Was Intuitive".
I would choose "Learning The Hard Way"
Tropi
And They Said the Mac Was Intuitive