Tried to do as much searching as I could before posting this question, but I think it might be useful for others that might have an idea crazy enough like this one to see if it can be done.
Now, I know this might be a no-no, but what I'm looking for is the ability to create a View... yes, just like http://drupal.org/project/views that can facilitate taking meta information and allowing users to have front-end filters/sorting methods to get the exact results they are looking for. I know you can create as many taxonomies as needed... but what about filtering by meta information (created from meta boxes) that can be generated in some automatic, intuitive way that isn't a nightmare to manage. Any ideas would be welcome. Thanks!