Car is an '89 245DL

Got all my stuff: Bosch Super (WR7DC) spark plugs (gapped to 0.30" +/-0.01"), Bosch cap and rotor, and Kingsborne spark plug and coil wires. I got dielectric and anti-seize grease ready.

I've never done a full tune-up on my wagon before, just spark plug change a couple of years ago, but that ended with me cross threading plug #1. Fell into a deep depression, thought of selling my car...but couldn't...sulked in my own misery, et cetera et cetera. Now it's that time again to do a complete tune-up. The job looks easy enough, but since I've never done the cap and rotor before, I thought I'd ask about the procedure so as to prevent any surprises. Do I just push the two "pins" outward and lift the cap? Or do I need to turn the cap left or right to unlock it from its seat? What about the rotor?

I've marked each of the "stems" on the old cap earlier today with the number of the corresponding spark plug wire. So I'm hoping that I can just use it as a reference when I connect the new wires onto the new cap.

Instead of putting a dab of dielectric grease on the wire boots, would it be better to just put grease on the ceramic part of the plug and the stems of the cap?

The plugs. This is cause for much anxiety. The concept sounds so easy, but the stories you read about cross threading mishaps! What do you do when a plug doesn't seem to screw in or starts to angle away from the thread path? I think that's what happened to me last time. Plug #1 came to a stop midway, and after unscrewing it and rescrewing it back in with the same result where it would begin to angle off and give resistance, I made the big mistake of forcing it in!

I don't have a torque wrench, but as I understand from the FAQ, hand tighten and then torque it 1/2 turn? Yes?

Thanks!