So as it would appear, my web host does not support Berkeley database operations nearly as well as it does MySQL; both of which are options for Movable Type but the former of which caused some kind nasty cascade failure of the entire blog installation yesterday evening. Luckily, I submarined an export out of the system right before it got "all monkeyed out," as they say in the...well, as I say. And, I'm rather proud to boast, this computer layman reinstalled Movable Type with the MySQL database option in record time!
That said, let's keep our fingers crossed and our prayers centered on non-corrupted Movable Type installations, eh?