And in the meantime, my main computer booted. Maybe the chkdsk /r repair actually worked? But first things first: While the machine is actually up and running, move every document off of it and on to the backup machine.
Does stress pump up your blood sugar? Mine shot up to 220, and I'm about to go take a long walk -- at least the weather is nice -- while the computers move 9 GB of documents over the USB link cable I'm glad I remembered to take with me.