Photius is alive!  Pictures are finally posted, and there’s even some video of the bot’s first steps.  John and I just got back from Tanner’s, and after finding out that they did in fact give me the correct LCD display, I think that most of my problems communicating with the board last night may have been a result of the fact that I didn’t have the display attached yet.  The documentation states that “at this point, the display must be in place for proper operation of the Handy Board.”  I guess they weren’t joking.  Hopefully my good luck will continue.