>Sooo, in order to "keep the client happy", I decided to add a status line that will update as the records are processed. The status line is maintained in the "loop" like thus:

Instead of actually slowing down the process, which doesn't scale well, I'd use an Edit Box, and output a log of what you're doing there. That way, when the process is finished, the user will see in teh Edit box "Process complete" and then be able to scroll up and actually see what happened. You can make it as detailed as you want.