Disco Ody.

[Jake]

think you got it right jake. car hadn't been messed with outside of new tires and fresh oil.
broadened my search to honda related and came up with this <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.justanswer.com/honda/4jtpb-2008-honda-accord-dash-lights-starting-blinking-dim.html">http://www.justanswer.com/honda/4jtpb-2 ... g-dim.html</a><!-- m -->

long and short, disconnect the battery to reboot the computer. (not sure i buy the explanation 100%, but whatever, it worked.)
had planned on replacing with a yellow top anyway, so hopefully this battery will hold until the deal comes back.

thx!

Glad you're figuring things out, I think

I had a similar "bad ground" issue with my E34 (link here). It sucked to try and figure out, particularly because it kept stranding me as a result.