Dave,

I still haven't figured out how to remove the ranking tag from my admin account - but still looking into it.

Regarding your problem of having to log in twice before it actually shows you as logged in - YES, I had that problem too. I think it is somehow related to how my web browser(s) handle cookies. I solved the problem by experimenting with the following settings (found in Administration > Global Settings Manager > Cookie & Session):

Enable URL Sessions = Yes
Use Session Cookies = No
Session Referrer Check = No
Session IP Validation = No
Multiple Host Login = No

The settings shown above solved the problem for me. Try starting with these settings, and if it doesn't solve your problem, experiment with various yes/no settings. If that still doesn't solve your problem, I can't offer any other advice, as I'm still pretty much a newbie at this.

About the smiley that is shown with your posts - I don't know the answer to that. Is it a default avatar that is used for your admin account? Maybe just poke around in the Administration settings to see if there's anything in there that's adding the smiley.