You also can't forget that "very shiny" is awesome, but you can't let the up and coming new things get in the way of your work.

If you're spending more time trying to keep up to date than getting code written, you should probably reconsider some practices :-)

I find following something, say, an application, through from beginning to end is the only way to truly learn something. Then begin learning something new, etc. You can ALWAYS take time to rewrite something to do it the *right* way though. But remember, not always is new and shiny the *right* way immediately :-)