I'm a lurker and I think have only made one post in the past although I log in and read 3-4 times a week. James Shadle encouraged me to post something so I told him I'd make a short post about my experience using manual exposure.
I've always had a hard time getting exposure right in automatic mode and shied away from using manual mode as I figured that I really don't have any chance at setting things manually if I can't consistently use auto.
I had the chance to go out with James a couple of weeks ago and he worked with me a bit trying manual mode. It was GREAT! I still have a long ways to go towards making good images but shooting in manual mode has made the biggest difference in quite a while. It frees me up to start looking more at what I'm shooting and fussing less with exposure (and usually fiddling it to where it's not right). It's intuitive and makes sense and it's very quick to adjust to changing conditions - and it's more obvious and intuitive as to what you need to do. If you're hesitating and stuck in auto mode it's really eye-opening. I also had a chance to play with it last weekend on my own and got a lot more images where the exposure was right or close than I had been getting with auto.