Directory Utility, setup with server without becoming Managed?

I've got a small office that we're putting in a 10.5 server. I can't get set up with the server without becoming a Managed user on my laptop (on which I am admin). Using another admin user on my laptop, I can make my user a non-managed user again, but that breaks the services (mail, ical . . . ) that I am needing to test and use once everything is working. The account on the server is not an admin as I want to be able to see what the other client machines see. I've tried this with another account on my machine and it works fine, so it would appear that some of my initial testing has settings that are hanging around. Which files or settings do I need to delete or change on my machine, or how do I go in and set myself up with the server differently? It seems that I could do a reinstall without keeping the user info since my other user works fine, but I'd like to know the right way to fix this in case it happens to one of the clients further down the road. Thanks for any info you might have, Ian p.s. - Please ask if something isn't clear.