Digital BW, The Print

Hi all,
I am writing today because I am totally confused about printig. I am
going to start printing in black and white, and after all the reading
i did on the web i am even more confused about what I need to do to
get good quality prints. This is something I would like to get serious
about but it seems like all the joy is being drained out of it when i
start to try to educate my self about printing.
I am using a Epson 1280. I use photo shop to edit my images. I am
thinking about starting to use duotone instead of grey scale
conversions. My question's are.
1. do I need to have a printer icc profile for my printer?
2. what is the easyest way to get quality prints?
3. I allready have a spyder monitor calibrator is there any thing else
that i need?
4. I am just plain fed up and confused with reading and trying to
understand all of this on my own, can some one please guide me.
Thank you very much in advanced for your help. Troy