[Christ]

OP - Just a comment about the center stand thing - They're leveraged so that very little lift and a slight rearward attitude is all that's required to put a bike on a center stand. If you practice it a few times, you'll get it. However, they're less than necessary, especially if you have stands at your disposal (or wood blocks, in your case), so good onya for getting that extra 10-15 lbs off there (provided you cut the brackets off, too.)

If you didn't cut the brackets, you can often just "jack" the rear of the bike up and slide a pin/punch through the holes that retain the center stand to use it without keeping it installed.