Can I keep working on my mac while Time Machine does its first back up?

Just wanting to double check before I do anything I am sorry about. I am getting ready to do my first Time Machine back-up. I have my documents all backed up with an on line service, but feel like I need to back up the whole system (better safe than sorry) and will back up to an external hard drive. I have plenty of space as I have about 60GB to back up on a 320GB drive. I know after the first backup it will only back up changes or additions to my mac and I will probably not notice anything, but is there anything I should be watching out for during this first time?
Thank you
laverne's mom

Thanks for your quick response. I expect it will take a while for it to complete. It took a little more than two days for just the documents to be backed up. I'll give it a good long time before I panic.

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