[MuseChaser]

I never updated my post to mention this, but a week or so ago as I was talking to the tech who is responsible for my car I queried him as to what may have caused my dipstick to be completely dry after only a few hundred miles of driving after the recall... it took three quarts to get it back to the top mark. Then.. lots of smoke out the exhaust and very rough running at startup. According to him, when I brought the car back to them, the dipstick tube was not seated properly in the engine, and he said one of his guys must not have installed it correctly.. that's why it read so low. Then, when I added oil, I actually overfilled it because it was reading incorrectly, causing excess oil to pool and gather in the heads causing all of the smoke. Who knows...
In any case, most of the parts are finally in and they're beginning work assembling my new engine. Positive thoughts... positive thoughts....