I agree with what has been said.  Have an IR plan written up before hand so that when something happens you aren't running around screaming yanking out cables.  Containment is important, have a way set up to where if something happens, you can contain it to one machine.  If the machine is not mission critical, you can disconnect it from the network. 
Have regular backups made, and validate them.  Check them periodically to make sure they work correctly.  I've heard of too many companies that go to back up their systems, only to find that all the backups they have are corrupted because they weren't created properly and checked.

So could things like Folding@home and SETI@home technically be considered botnets?

Ah yeah, forgot about OTR

Great resource, thanks for posting.

Great site, I've been a member there for only about a week, but I'm loving it.

Great links, thanks guys

I use adium on my Mac, Empathy on my Ubuntu box.

I'm new to this site as well, but I've been in the networking / security field for quite a few years now.  At this point, the most important thing you can do is study, study, study.  Learn all you can.  FInd what interests you.  Start up a blog and pass along what you learn.  Writing what you learn will help you retain the information you come across.  Just take time, and keep an open mind.  And make sure you keep it fun