UPDATE -
Well, I have discovered that one of the big issues with the BSOD's is (in addition to invoking the changes suggested here) canceling out of the "sleep" and "hibernate" modes in Windows 7. Since doing this... I have not had a single BSOD or other aberrant behavior since last posting.... So, in particular, I have changed my sleep/powersaving settings to NEVER shut down my hard drive or put it into hibernate/sleep mode. This seems to have been a contributing factor in the crashes. Thanks again everyone for your awesome dedication to chasing down problems - - this forum proved valuable beyond words - you guys are great! Have a great Christmas everyone!!