[jocko]

- Put your jack stand preferably a little further aft - it's too close to the angle.
- Do NOT put light pressure on the frame with a jack also - the pressure should be on the stand, zero on the jack. If you MUST put the jack under, just barely kiss the frame.
- Do what geezer and fastnlow suggest, lay your tires on their sides, and shove them under a frame rail just in case - will limit the fall if there is one.

- I STILL don't know if you're working on drums or disk brakes. For terminology's sake...
Drum brakes use shoes against the inner curved part of a drum as the friction surface.
Disk brakes use pads against the flat faces of a rotor as the friction surface.

Generally speaking, you should have a drum or rotor turned (re-surfaced) when you change pads. If you do some of the anti-glazing tricks mentioned above, could probably do it every other time. Anyway, if you don't know, then turn them. It will be cheaper to turn what you have than to buy new. Take them to any shop capable of doing brakes. They'll tell you if they can legally be turned or not (they will mic the thickness of the rotor or the inner diameter of a drum. Then you may have to buy new anyway. Personally, I always use all I can of the drum/rotor - that's why they have extra material, to be used.

If you post a pic, it will go a long way toward folks helping you out.

No worries all the questions, we've all asked them at one time or another. Keep asking.