I run as non-Admin, except when I'm developing COM objects (its hard to debug something if you're not allowed to register it.) A few things are painful, but I believe its worth it.
I think one of the points that Dana makes that you didn't key off is that it shouldn't be painful. If MS developers were forced to run as non-Admin, and experinced all of the pain, you'd come up with a better way of doing it.
Cool. I've really been missing the Daily Journal powertoy since I started using the 2007 beta (trust me the additional features in 2007 make not having the journal worth it.)
Unfortunately, the iBook still starts at $999. I think I remember you saying Patrick had about $700. I want to see the blog buzz when you plunk down the remaining $300 at an Apple store. 8-)