I DID IT! I'm so stoked right now.
Here is the solution (adapted from this thread):
http://wordpress.org/support/topic/151300?replies=5
<?php
$cid = get_query_var('cat');
$myarray = array($cid,282);
query_posts(array('category__and'=>$myarray)); ?>
<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
<h3><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="<?php the_title(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h3>
<p><?php the_excerpt('Read more »'); ?></p>
<?php endwhile; ?>
So now I can pull the category id and assign it to $cid. I can then add that variable into my array. Why am I doing this?
I have 300 pages and 300 categories with matching names (this way I can use one page template and one category template for all 300). In the page template I have a link at the end that goes to the category for the page, dynamically, by inserting this clever bit of code:
<?php $slug = $post->post_name; ?>
<a href="/category/<?php echo($slug); ?>">Additional Info for <?php echo($slug); ?></a>
So the visitor clicks on the above link and are taken to the category matching the page name. On the category page, I run multiple query_posts like the code above, matching the current category plus an additional category (e.g. current category+questions, current category+answers)
So additional users can log in, ask their question, categorize it with 'questions' and one of the other 300 categories and, once published, will automatically display in the right spot on the site.