Bam! We are back in business!
So I followed your steps Nick but unfortunately still had the same problem.

Booked an appointment a Genius Bar guy and he figured there was an issue with the disc. It looked fine to me but he loaded Snow Leopard from their network in-store and I was out the door in 15 minutes! I was apprehensive about booking with them as was unsure if they might charge me an arm and a leg. Nope, no charge. Really nice guy to deal with.

Thanks for the help Nick and Travis.