Drum Set Up
Setting up your drum set is not rocket science, but setting up your drums correctly can make playing easier. Not only that, but you'll find that your sticks and drum heads last longer and you'll sound better.
Start by setting your seat's height (a drummer should have an adjustable-height "drum throne" that's designed specially for drumming--a kitchen chair just isn't a good choice). Sit on the throne with your feet flat on the floor. Now, put your hand sideways on your knee (like a karate chop), and place a drum stick between your hand and the top of your thigh. Raise or lower the seat until the stick is parallel with the floor. This will should put you in the proper position for playing the bass drum and hi-hat pedals.
The bass drum pedal should be close enough so that your right leg doesn't go exactly straight down, but so that your ankle is just a few inches in front of where your knee is. Move the bass drum and give it a few tries with your right foot.
Next, set your snare drum on its stand, and make sure the legs are open all the way and the drum is between your legs. Raise or lower the snare drum so that the playing surface is just about at the same level as your belt buckle. This will keep you from overextending your arms, and that they will be in a more neutral, relaxed position.
Set your hi-hat the way you set your bass drum, but set it for your left foot.
Now it's time to set the angle of the tom-toms. It's not uncommon for a new drummer to set the tom-toms at a radical angle--almost straight up--so that it's necessary to poke at them. This doesn't give you a good sound. Take your stick and see where you naturally hit on the snare drum, and then just raise your arm in a sort of arc. Adjust your tom-tom so that at when you hit the head at that point, you're hitting with the drum head with your stick at about the same angle as when you hit the snare drum. How far away should that tom-tom be? When you reach out to it, your arm should be relaxed, and your wrist in a pretty neutral position.
As you can probably tell, this all takes practice, since each adjustment in some way affects the others. As you feel more comfortable behind the set, you'll probably make adjustments in your set up. It's not a one-time, set-and-forget process.