How do I master my astronomy skills?

Get yourself a planisphere a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planisphere" rel="nofollow"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planisphere/a to help locate fixed objects like Andromeda, globular clusters, nebulae, and other galaxies (although those might be too dim for that scope). Sky and Telescope a href="http://www.skyandtel.com" rel="nofollow"http://www.skyandtel.com/a has monthly star charts up for finding planets and comets. It should have come with instructions for how to align it - try joining a local astronomy club. Those guys have tons of experience with telescopes and would be more than happy to help you align it and start finding cool stuff to look at.