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Sorry guys, I hadn't revisted this area for months!
Regarding the application of solder paste: buy yourself a magnifying ring lamp, and get a syringe for the paste. A lot of the paste solder actually comes prepackaged in a tube that can be used with proprietary syringes. As usual, Kester tends to make the best stuff. You can also use a dulled/nipped toothpick to dab solder paste on very small pads. You'll need some acetone and q-tips to fix mistakes (dip the q-tip in the acetone).
Putting down paste for a large board can be time consuming to say the least. You need a LOT of patience. You have to control the "bump" size. Too much is a bad thing, too little a bad thing, though you tend to want to err on the side of too little..you can usually come back and do some manual touchup later.
Now, some folks prefer to do things more like the professionals, and they use stenciling. I do not trust myself to get that right but here's a good site that desribes said process:
http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/58
Once the paste is down you just set your parts down directly on top...but don't let them twist or slide too much or you have to start over (!!!). Yes, your little LGA will be fun since you can't really see where it's going on the pads...but PRIOR to pasting you can draw some "match marks" (fiducial lines) with a fine Sharpie/Marks-a-lot for alignment.
I would recommend that you start first with an easy project and work towards finer pitch components as you gain experience.
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