I had always read to take your creatine post workout and mixed with cold juice or something equally as high in carbohydrates. The carb spike will assist in getting the creatine to your muscles faster to aid in muscle tissue repair. Hot water and juices high in acidity have a tendancy to break down the chemical composition of creatine and make it less effective. Creatine should be mixed with something like grape juice (apple & orange should be avoided due to their acidity levels), dextrin, malto-dextrin, gatorade or powerade. Some manufacturers will package their creatine in a flavored powder. While this is most likely more expensive than mixing it with something else, it can also be more convenient.
Loading is not necessary. It will only help you see results a week or 2 sooner. And, you really only need 5 grams of creatine per day, every day. The body supposedly can only absorb 5 grams per day, but it cannot store creatine. So, once you start taking it, you need to continue to take it even on "off" days in order to see results. Taking more than 5 grams will mostly only get you very expensive urine.
You do need to make sure that you're drinking plenty of water while taking creatine. Your muscles will store much more H2O than normal, giving you a somewhat "puffed" up look. While it's good that your muscles are staying well hydrated, other tissues in your body may not be getting their fair share of water. Better be safe than sorry, right?
As far as long-term creatine usage, massive member posted a highly informative article on that in this sub-forum. Search for it. But, it basically says that there's really no evidence that long-term AND continual usage is not harmful to the human body. Hence, there is no need to "cycle off" creatine, that is unless it starts to hurt the ole wallet just a tad too much.
That's about my knowledge of creatine from everything I've read and researched. Good luck!
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