tokyoracer,
Hmm, yes, I know you have a standard 12 volt battery, but you should get a tester to read what it's putting out at the terminals. If memory serves, anything below 12.6 and the battery is low. Until you know this, you're shooting in the dark. You can pick up a cheap multimeter most anywhere for 15$ or less.
Clearly, if it can be jumped and worked, it's either putting out less than the minimum voltage required, or the AAA tech did something else...maybe there's enough corrosion on the battery terminals to prevent you from getting a good connection. Maybe he jiggled things around enough to make a good ground...
Hmm, sounds like just steam, but to be sure, you may want to do a chemical test of the coolant or have an oil analysis done to verify that you have no coolant contamination in the oil. Chances are, with the cold that most of the country is experiencing, you're just seeing steam.
Now, the oil around the plugs...was that on the outside of the plug or the electrode? The former simply means that the valve cover grommets need to be replaced...do that next time you adjust your valves...no big deal. I'm assuming that's what it is as you said the plugs were white...
As far as running lean, if you're not experiencing any pinging or loss of power, I'd say deal with it, you're getting better mileage that way anyway...
Uh, I thought white plugs meant running warm...did you go and put some kind of freaky plugs in there?
Bogatyr