To be honest, I haven't been on my trainer in a while. At my height of use it was a couple times a week. Most of my programed workouts run about an hour, some longer. You'll be suprised how fast an hour can go.
I'd set the thing up where ever it worked out. In the living room in front of the TV or stereo, in the backyard. The amount of sweat calls for a towel below the bike if in the house. Drink fluids. I keep a towel in hands reach for mopping the brow. A large fan set up in front of you in the house is nice.
Trainers are ideal for mixing it up. Get a hold of a book on trainer use. The one that came with my Blackburn model is extremely helpful. It has numerous workouts and it tells you to keep certain gears at constant cadence for certain amounts of time working you through intervals. This calls for a clock within view preferable with a second hand and cadence counting (count the revolutions of the crank in six seconds and multiply by ten). A cycle computer is best. I found that keeping the resitance at a constant is helpful. A given programed workout at a different resistance is quite marked in terms of effect. You'll know what you can handle. The point is not to kill yourself.
I always check my tire pressure no matter what i'm doing. Anal.
You'll hear a lot of people say it's boring but I'd do it more if I had the time.