OK.  I installed bitcoin 0.8.1 with my wallet on a completely different computer. Same result: "Error: Transaction creation failed!"

I'm not about to hand over my wallet to anybody.  I appreciate it if somebody walked me through the steps, as I'm sure that I'm not the only one that this is going to happen to.

I've only ever acquired bitcoin, I never spent them...and I can tell you right now it hasn't been a pleasant experience!