Ahh, thanks for the insights. I'll search next time.
For now, I'm thinking my first script will be an "update remote folder" script. The idea is there is a folder on my machine that has all my local files (Web page stuff), and when I run the update script it ftps and 'cleans' up the remote files (without harming .htaccess files).
When (if) I ever get this done, its free for everyone of course. There's probably something already like this, but I like to create my own interfaces, and I think it would be a good first little scripting project.