"Upon transmitting string, the first character transmitted seems to be unpredictable."

Do you mean that the first character is corrupted or that an additional character is transmitted before your string?

Note that powering your board up may be sufficient for a character to appear at the PC.

I also advise you not to use hyperterminal. I am aware of one fairly subtle bug in the XP version that WILL make you think your code or hardware is in error when it is not. Use any other terminal emulator, it is certain to be better.