Productivity Tip: Empty Your Dock -- Garrick Van Buren →
“Inspired partially by my preparation for the Tiger upgrade and partially by my proficiency with QuickSilver, I’ve emptied everything out of the doc. Only the Finder and Trash are persistent. Everything else, in when in use, out when not.”
And I, inspired by Garrick, have done the same. You should consider doing so as well. In fact, an unexpected side effect of this tip is that it helps you find out which applications you really need and use.