I'll try to update this to keep track of the tweaks I find necessary for ubuntu to work well.
Install System-wide Pulseaudio Equalizer:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:psyke83/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install pulseaudio-equalizer
Install Pulseaudio tools and alsaplayer plugin, etc:
sudo apt-get install libasound2-plugins "pulseaudio-*" paman padevchooser paprefs pavucontrol pavumeter
Multimedia Playing
sudo apt-get install totem vnc ubuntu-restricted-extras
sudo apt-get install libdvdread4 && sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh
Send email from cli with attachments
sudo apt-get install mutt
echo "see attached" | mutt -s "file attached" -a Documents/somefile.xls -- jdoe@somewhere.com
Network Troubleshooting Tools
sudo apt-get install iputils-tracepath nmap aircrack-ng
Remote Systems Administration
sudo apt-get install gtkvnc rdesktop tsclient