> (4) After a long night coding, just before I fell asleep, I had a half-dream, half-daydream about C's bracketing structures.
>

I can relate... I tend to get totally immersed in some tasks. My wife has told me that I often design and code in my sleep.... I asked her to take notes.... She does now.
Of course, this malady isn't completely geek-related. She has helped me build two sheds and rebuild an engine in my sleep. She hands me tools and tells me if things look OK.

> (5) Both Dave and I have, at many times, wished we could grep a book.
>

Here's MY hot wish:
1 - The CD ROM in a laptop isn't all that thick or wide.
2 - I have lots of manuals, technical docs, etc, in CD form.
So, why doesn't somebody market a "CD book"; a Pilot-like PDA with a CD ROM drive so's you can read the book anywhere. You could tote around the whole MSDN library in less space than a paperback bodice-ripper. And that would be easier than trying to juggle a laptop in "the library".