Another question - I’m gonna drive everyone nuts…
What’s the recommendations on unplugging the pedal from the USB port? Should I treat it as just an SD card and shut it down first in Windows, or just go ahead and pull the little bugger out?
No, you won’t drive anyone nuts! 
I would treat BB like an external SD card reader, hence I would recommend shutting down the device gracefully. At about 10 years ago I myself had my USB flash drive went out of order after I forgot to shut it down. It was Windows 2000 that killed my flash… Yet, time goes forward, operating systems improve, but basic principles still apply. I would never again repeat my mistake.
Hope that will save you from any possible problems
How do we gracefully shut down the BB? I thought the little button on my powerstrip was working fairly well, but now you got me a little worried.
I am sorry for probably not choosing the correct wording, but I meant you’d better remove the device safely. The procedure for BeatBuddy (with an SD card inserted while BeatBuddy is plugged) is the same as for any other USB devices.
Here is the link to the Microsoft site for you - http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/safely-remove-devices-from-your-computer. This is for Windows 7, but every other version of Windows I’ve ever used is pretty much the same.