> I2C first: it seems pretty clear that the SSP doesn't do anything at all
> for master-mode operation of an I2C interface, so I may as well ignore it
> and just wiggle the interface pins via the PORTx and TRISx registers.  Yes?

While I've not tried it, I think you may be able to use the PIC's hardware
to your benefit in I2C master mode if you set it for a micro-wire (SPI)
style port and tie the data in and out wires together.  You'd have to do
start and stop sequences by hand, but could probably let the SPI port bang
out the actual bytes of data.