Disclaimer: I just joined and don't understand all the acronyms and abreviations yet.
I've been working on my credit for a long time, and while it's steadily increasing, I'm growing a little impatient. lol
I've come up from somewhere in the upper 300's to currently a 545 with Equifax. I checked my Fico acouple weeks ago and it's even better. I'm finally finished owing money to collections. But of course those buggers are just hangin out on my report making me look bad.
I have the two paid collections accounts and 6 negative accounts. All from a long time ago, between 2007 and 2010.
Also, my father added me to 2 of his oldest credit cards which seems to have influenced my score in a good way.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. And again, I'm a complete noob with the cool kid lingo around here. 
Congrats on the progress so far, especially on getting those collections paid. That sets the stage for the next big step (and a new abbreviation): Goodwill, also known as GW around here.
What you are going to do is basically write simple, personal letters to the collection agencies to ask if they would be willing to delete the collection tradeline from your report. `There are a bunch of examples on this site and elsewhere if you use Google. You may get a response that says "we can't do that" or "the reporting is accurate," or you may get no response at all, but just keep sending them every 30 days till you get what you want. It just costs you a stamp, and all it takes is one friendly rep who decides to help you out, and it's gone.
What exactly do you mean by the other 6 negative accounts? Are those all paid but just showing some lates, or were they charged-off? In any case, for any of those that have a 0 balance, you can use the exact same process above. I'd start with the 2010 ones since those are hurting you the most, then reach out to the 2007 ones. If any still have a balance, you can try what's called Pay For Delete (PFD), where you offer to pay in full to have it deleted. ONLY make those calls if you're prepared to pay in full on the spot, though, because if any are still within state statute of limitations, you could be sued if they know you're willing to pay and you try to back off because they're not willing to PFD. If they won't PFD, pay anyway, then switch to GW.
For the negative accounts dated 2007, you might also have some success calling the bureaus directly (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) asking for early deletion (or "early exclusion" if you want to sound really on-point). TU has been known to be willing to exclude items as early as 6 months prior to the 7 yr limit, and EX sometimes does it 3-6 months early. EQ has been much less consistent, but it's usually a matter of who you get. If you have some that are within 6 months of expiration, I'd pick one day each week to try calling each bureau 2-3x (since you'll get a different rep each time) to see if you can get those deleted.
Hope this helps, and good luck! Keep us posted with how it plays out - the more people who share their stories, the more everyone benefits.
Starting score 3/30/13: 570s across the board