Me 2.
But after trying them out for a few months.. I find taking good composition, learning how to compose and emphasize the focus point of your photo, learning how to read the light, and color composition will 90% get you a good photo (assuming you have some decent equipment).
You use Canon?
I have Canon 580 EX2, and I have tried to use M mode by adjusting the light output, playing around the exposure/metering and it returned little success for me..
I use ETTL 95% of the time and adjust the ETTL setting in terms of power output and the distance of object I'm shooting.
Oh, I really believe that those who actually manually set flash settings are usually pros taking studio photos and not average amateur taking real life event photos...
I'm reading a couple books that I thought are excellent in terms of helping you understanding exposure, color composition, photo composition etc. I'll post the title tonight if you want.
I bought the book from Amazon brand new for only about $25 (retail at $45 or so). (good graphics illustration too)