maintenance questions

[jwalsh22]

Alright everyone, I've been looking around here for some answers to some maintenance questions I have, but I'm a little confused. It's my first time going through all this stuff, and I really want to understand it and make sure I'm going about it correctly.

here goes:

I've got to flush my coolant and replace it. Other than buying the new coolant and distilled water, what else should I buy? I've seen some posts that say you just pull out the drain plug, drain the resevoir, replace the plug, fill with only distilled water, then drain again, and then refill with the proper 50/50 mix of coolant and water. Is this correct? I've read some posts here that also say stuff about replacing the thermostat and other various parts.

next, my brakes:
The 'check brake linings' message just came on, and I wondered exactly what it meant. I read a post here of one guy that just sanded a small part down and everything was fine, but there were others that replaced their brakes entirely. I will assume I should replace mine, as I'm over 50,000 on the same brakes. Now, this brings up a whole host of issues. Is it worth replacing the oem pads with axiss pads, and must the rotors be replaced at the same time? I just want the same good performance I had before, nothing to complicated. Any suggestions? I think I should also flush the brake lines, is this an easy thing to do? I've read posts on this that say it is pretty simple.

Okay, thanks in advance for any suggestions.