Need help with encrypted wallet.dat. I can't access it with my expected pass-phrase
As a follow up I was able to discover the actual passphrase by using the ruby script from this thread https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=85495.

See my post # 312 for the details if you need help solving this kind of problem. The folks in that thread are very helpful.

Much thanks to all who helped. It was a stressful and frustrating experience - from which I learned a lot. :)