LOL .. yea skip the lawn mower 'stage' .. haha
as far as topping and pruning goes .. I top the plants only once in their lifetime, 1 week into the flowering stage so that two decent size buds emerge at the tops.. I prune only as needed during veg (getting rid of leaves that have gone bad and/or not getting any light at the bottom) and then cut off entire lower branches at the beginning of the flowering stage so the plant can use most of its sugars to give the begininning of bud production a boost.