Mike Miller wrote:
> Do you 
> know of good instructions on how to make the Ubuntu installation thumb 
> drive from a Windows box?

http://wubi-installer.org/
http://lifehacker.com/5195999/portable-ubuntu-runs-ubuntu-inside-windows
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/virtualbox

Any one of these web pages give instructions on how to run Ubuntu on top 
of Windows. Once Ubuntu is up, you can make a live USB stick.

-Jeff