Mining

I like mining lower despite the lava just because I seem to find more diamonds. If you leave a clean retreat without any holes to get stuck in it's pretty easy to back away when you hit lava. Carry a bucket of water to dump just above the lava when you hit it, that way you can pick the water up again and you only need the one bucket. I usually mine a 5 high straight line, mainly to offset the block lag. If I have an efficient pick I can mine faster than the lag so it gets annoying waiting for them to catch up. If I mine 5 high from top to bottom it gives the lag time to catch up with my pick plus it exposes more levels.

 

http://www.shadecrest.com/site/threads/5194/

Found North's tutorial, took awhile ;D