Ok, another update :) I drove over to a friends house yesterday and fired up the trusty compression checker. All cylinders were 145 except for #3 which was 140 (after taking perhaps one or two more cycles to get there). Also interesting was the fact that there was a drop of oil on the spark plug in #3 when I pulled it out...certainly it seems that #3 is the source of the oil burning issue and the drop seems to indicate some sort of valve issue (seal or possibly worse)!

Also, after driving it around yesterday we popped the radiator once again and the water we put in is definitely turning a milky color and smudges of oil appear on paper stuck into the coolant...I think a definite sign of some sort coolant/oil mixing happening from the head gasket. Thankfully I am not seeing any coolant in the oil yet but this weekend I think I will definitely tear off the head and put on new head gasket and valve stem seals, of which I already have a set that I forgot to put on when reassembling the head the last time around.

Brian