Saving a pose

Lets say I created a pose where my character is ready to start a walkcycle, is there a way to save this pose so I can use it laten in my animation when I need it. Maybe with shapekeys or something, cuz im not familiar with shapekeys yet.

idk about blender 2.5 but in blender 2.49 you have Pose Libs

In 2.54 either from the Pose Tools panel (T in pose mode) or from the menu in pose mode you can copy/paste poses and add to the pose library.