ok thanks for all the tips. Couple more questions.
1. As far as battery life, i can leave it plugged in during the install of themes correct?
2. I am looking for a theme and want to make sure that I am loading the correct one that is compatible with Cyanogenmod 6.1.2 (which i just finished Downloading using rom manager). Would this one be compatible-->[Theme/Mods] Konikub's Theme Collection (1-13-11) Evo Elite + GB Colored Menus!!! - xda-developers
3. When i load the zip file to sd card do i just DL it from the phone or use USB cable to load it to sd card?
Thanks again. I know these are noooooob questions just dont want that $300 paperweight
1. The link you posted are flashed as mods. Yes you can plug in the phone while flashing mods.
2. Read this from that page "which is from the newest OTA update of 3.70.651.1" Uhh... short answer is NO. CM is NOT BASED ON SPRINT/HTC CODE. So therefore, mods/themes developed for ROMs based off HTC/Sprint are not mutually adaptable for themes for CM and vice versa. I mean, the screenshots on that page show HTC Sense/Rosie launchers.. that right there is a dead giveaway that it cannot be used for CM.
3. Clicking on that link says that it's a flashable zip. It doesn't matter how it gets to the sdcard.
Just nandroid backup before flashing any mods--there's no undo/uninstall button for mods, so you need a nandroid to revert if things go wonky.