Time to Get Serious about Investing for Retirement

I need to start being more systematic in my investing for retirement. I know that I want to be putting money away, but what is the best way? Individual Stocks? Regular mutual funds? Index Funds? Exchange Traded Funds?

Once I make that decision I need to figure out where to do the investing. In a deep discount broker? Or stick with my current account at Schwab?

What is the best way to make sure I am sufficiently diversified? And how do I keep the investment diversified?

As I have started to read I thought that I should be keeping my thoughts posted here so that not only might my learning help someone else, but that those who have more experience might also comment and help me make the right decisions.