thumbnails: a thumbnail is a small image, usually smaller than a square inch. you profile thumbnail almost becomes your nametag for people who look at lots of information quickly
updates: if you want to update a blog without changing the original content, simply click the update link when viewing your own blog. this will show up with a timestamp, and it will be clear that it was not part of the original post
search: narrow your search results by telling avalantern whose post it is, what kind of post, and what it's tagged with. for example, "in:blogs user:thelowlypeon tag:apple iphone"
recents panel: you can hide the recent activity panel, which shows a random post from the last few days, by unchecking "show recent activity panel" in your settings