Below!
bmc  :)
"Faith will move mountains, but you'd better bring a shovel...."

> 1) Can I do the rear shocks and springs myself?  I've got jackstands, a
> shop jack, basic tools, and a Bentley.  I have no means of compressing the
> springs, though -- do I even have to do that on this vehicle?

You can--just use a jack to compress the spring as needed, but you probably
won't need to much at all.

> 2) Mudskipper's tranny (regular ol' four speed) is still tight after 152k
> mi, but the linkage is getting tweaky.  Specifically, it feels like the
> reverse lockout has crept over to first -- to get the box into first, I
> need to push the lever straight down and then carefully ensure that I
> don't accidentally put it into reverse.  I've gotten the hang of this, but
> it's a little nerve-wracking.  I've adjusted the plate at the foot of the
> shift lever; do I need to play with this a bit more?

I would say yes, you need to try again on the adjustment.  The lock may also
be wearing.

> 3) Profuse apologies to Herr Fish in Osterreich -- I, too, have power lock
> problems.  The power locks work great except that the driver's side
> behaves erratically.  If the passenger locks/unlocks his/her door, the
> driver's side responds.  If I lock my door, though, nothing happens until
> I hit a bump in the road.  I checked the wiring, and connections are tight
> / no visible frayed wires.  Which wire acts as the sender?  I'd love to
> put the multimeter on the driver's side if I knew which wire was
> responsible for sending state rather than receiving.

Can't answer the "which wire" question, but the driver's side harness
commonly breaks internally (it's a little too short, and the driver's door
gets opened a lot more than the pax door).  Check continuity on each wire
from the driver's door solenoid to their other ends, replace what's broken.