Quote - Then I'll just delete the default lights, create my own infinite "work light" or something, and then save it as part of my preferred launch state.

Alright, scratch that idea.  Apparently custom lights can't be saved as part of the UI settings.  Grr...

Quote - Create a light, turn shadows off, and in the Material tab set Diffuse_Color to black and Specular_Color to black and it will illuminate the scene in preview mode but not show up in the render...

Nice.  Thanks.