I have modified the /etc/default/grub file, so that we're loading up the previous linux kernel version on reboot.  Now Rossa boots up (at least one time so far) without any fancy button-pushing.

(Note, if things go south again, we have to push "shift" starting after the Dell screen is gone.  Holding it down while the Dell screen is still up doesn't seem to make it register that you want the grub menu).

The grub file USED to look like:

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

but now it looks like:

GRUB_DEFAULT=2
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=false
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

Note that the first line, GRUB_DEFAULT has changed from 0 (first item in grub menu, if you successfully hit shift and get to it) to 2 (the third item in the list).  I think that the GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=false is supposed to force it to show the countdown time when you can push shift, but I didn't see any difference there.

To edit this file, you must use "sudo [text editor] grub".  I like emacs, so I used "sudo emacs grub".  After an edit, before a reboot, you must run "sudo update-grub".  Then you can reboot (sudo shutdown -r now is what I use), and hopefully it will boot as you directed.

Right now, the 0th (first) entry in the grub menu is "Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.32-61-generic".  The 2nd (third) entry is "Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.32-58-generic".  If we install a new kernel version, the 61 version will bump down in the list, and we'll be booting that, which I assume will fail.  We should not update Rossa until we're ready to go to Ubuntu 12, and when we do, we must ensure that the grub file first line reads GRUB_DEFAULT=0.  (As a side note, the 1st (really 2nd) entry in the grub menu is "Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.32-61-generic (recovery mode)", which we don't want.  The 58 version has a recovery mode as the next line item, since it alternates version-N, version-N recovery mode, version-(N-1), version-(N-1) recovery mode, etc.)