Having used it for a little while now I can honestly say that my prediction has come true in that I still barely use the start menu which means that the impact of Windows 8 on me is minimal.
Easiest way to shut down without resorting to kerazy shortcut creation and things is (wait for it) Alt+F4.
Other useful keyboard shortcuts include
Windows Key+C to bring up the 'Charms' menu.
Windows Key+X to bring up an approximation of the old start menu kinda, sortof.
The only specific tweak I've made is the removal of the 'Lock' screen and turned off the need to manually login my user.
Other tweaks can be found
here which I may have already posted in this thread but I'm too lazy to check. or it's possible that someone else has posted it here and I shamelessly stole their hard work and claimed it for my own, nevertheless I see it as easing Ken's inevitable suffering now that he has bought a Windows 8 laptop so my conscience is clear.