Alrighty then. After backing up my database, theme, plugins and all sorts of other crap, starting with a brand new fresh WP install, importing my database, reinstalling all my plugins, setting up this that and the other thing…
(deep breath)
…my beloved ol’ blog is back up and running full steam and (so far) the problems with comments and PHP process hangs and all those intermittent problems type crap seems to have been fixed.
Going Like Sixty dropped by to tell me of a small theme affecting WP 2.3 bug that Grandad over at Head Rambles found and posted a fix for that I might be interested in fixing for myself.
Apparently, there is an error in the new code, so that when you upgrade, you may get an error –
Warning: array_key_exists() [function.array-key-exists]: The first argument should be either a string or an integer in blah/blah/blah/wp-includes/category-template.php on line 176
Now I did some research and apparently there is a line in a file called wp-includes/category-template.php.
Yeah, I know, I know…I didn’t include the fix in the above quote but considering Grandad took the time to do the research then kindly posted the fix for it I figure he deserves a visit (see the link below).
Although the problem didn’t appear for me since my theme didn’t take exception to the bug, I fixed it anyway just in case. Anyone running WP 2.3 might want to head over and take a look and do the fix yourselves.
Oh, and if anyone see’s or notices anything strange (besides the author) going on, please let me know so I can moan and groan and gnash my teeth in dismay and agony. I’ll truly appreciate it, thanks. 
Yay! Congratulations.
Congrats!
Thanks guys!
Ah, all the months of putzin’ around my WP install paid off in being able to wipe the whole thing off the face of the WWW and successfully rebuilding it from scratch without losing a thing (I hope).
All this putzin’ around probably caused the problem in the first place.
Call it a lesson in objectivity