Whew.

Changed my plugs, found oil on one. So that added the valve gasket to the list. Did that, changed the oil and also replaced some seals on my master cylinder.

All in all, it was pretty straight forward. I'm definitely glad I chose to do it myself, rather than drop it off with my mechanic. And other than some weird looks my neighbors gave me (He has that BMW torn apart AGAIN?), it was lots of fun, and a good learning experience.

As an aside: Is weird, flaky gunky buildup on the inside of the valve covers normal? I cleaned the cover up pretty well before I put it back in...