I have the forum hardwired into my central nervous system.....
Seriously,
I have a separate icon on my desktop, as told to me by the mad Englishman Mr. Waye (just AM/forum). On my desktop and laptop I access this about 90% of the time. Most of the time I post I never hit the main page. Too much temptation to chat.
At work, though I don't have a shortcut, so I still go in through the main page. I find it easiest to look at the feature vax has in the middle of the page that shows the most recent posts. It's very helpful.