... so I'm begging for some help. ... I don't want (although I may need 8-)) any code, except generic "how do you do this" samples; I just want some hints, just like this was a homework assignment.

Dang teacher, where are the beggin' pics? :)

See Re: Scraping Ajax / JS pop-up or Re^5: can't get WWW::Mechanize to sign in on JustAnswer or Web Testing with HTTP::Recorder or WWW::Mechanize::Firefox

extracting data from html using xpath

extract data from html with xpath

extract a substring between two emements, its css/xpath time again

WWW::Mechanize, WWW::Mechanize::Firefox, WWW::Scripter, HTTP::Recorder, Web::Magic, htmltreexpather.pl, getting data out of html with xpath, Re: Formating a HTML document to show certain text., Re^2: HTML::TreeBuilder:: identifing xpath-expression - first attempt, Re: Help With Online Table Scraper, Re: Formating a HTML document to show certain text.