That is definitely one of the most in depth answers I've gotten to one of my random scenarios, thank you.

I think I cornered myself away from the answer when the idea of an abstract class first struck me... I was pretty close to that answer, it just didn't seem right in my head, because I was picturing a relationship between two types of classes (the abstract, and it's children). It seemed like it should work, but I just kept snagging on some unknown feeling of not being quite right. Having an abstract/interface, children and a controller suddenly makes all the queasiness go away and that little light go *bing*.
-m