>The value of SYS(1016) - user object memory use increases
>from 1768540 to 1769880, etc.
>Other than the fact that the number is increasing, the actual number itself means nothing to me. How do I determine if I should be concerned, rework the code, etc? What is my benchmark?

Does it go down if you issue RELEASE ALL and CLEAR ALL? If so, it's not a leak.