1). Remove the plastic screen protector. The plastic will get scratched very easily. After a couple of months you will return the forums and complain about how crappy your screen looks. I've had hundreds of users come to me saying snidely, 'I thought you said the screen was good, this thing looks like crap after only a couple of months'. I rip their crappy plastic cover off and 'sounds of angels singing, a bright light shines down' the pretty glass shines once again. I then take out the scissors and 'scratch' across the surface of the glass. They panic, then calm down. The glass is pretty tough. The only thing I've found to scratch it is sliding it face down on a table without a case that has sand on it. Yep that will scratch it. If your case has a little corner protection, it will lift if just high enough to keep the sand from scratching it if you try this at home.
2). Get a case; anything that has protection for the corners. DO NOT get one of those folio cases that hold your iPad in with little stretch nylon straps and does NOT have anything protecting the edge. First drop and the little stretchy nylon thing will stretch, your ipad corner will smack the ground and you will have a dented case and a $179 glass repair
3) Turn it on. iDevices come with about 70% power. This gives the battery the best storage/holding capacity for long term non use, like after it gets shipped from the factory. A fully charged iPad battery would NOT be able to 'stretch' during the long off times.
4) Create an iCloud account and start enjoying some books from iBooks. I can recommend a couple of free ones to get your started: Joshua Slocum, 'Sailing Around the World' and Friedrich Nietzsche, 'Thus Spake Zarthustra'
