I play using several mods.
- Rei's minimap
- TF2 teleporters and turrets
- Inventory tweaks
- Too many items
- Buildcraft
- Equivalent Exchange
I couldn't get Industrialcraft 2 working witout having to reinstall my whole folder so I'm playing without that for now.
The minimap/teleporters/inventory tweaks and Too many items are so damn handy. Even if you don't use any other mods that adjust your gameplay it's so handy.
My home as of now, with 3 machines in front of it (2 sugar cane and 1 cactus machine in front of it) and my quarry on the right).

I can get the seed actually if anyone wants. It's quite awesome because you start at an island with a cave ravine. To the west is a NPC town and there is a ton of clay to find (as seen by my house haha)