If you move the mouse to the top of the screen, the menu bar appears and under the Window menu is an option to see the log file.
I'll have to wait to find out what's stalling me because, though plugged in, the magsafe wasn't actually charing the machine and it powered itself down...
Did you read this thread at all? Open the log file to see what it's doing.
It's the humanity that keeps bringing me back to these forums.
In response to your kind inquiry: I did read this thread, and saw people ask how to open the log, but no one quote the question in a response. Turns out, of course, that you're right, the answer was there it was just cleverly hidden in the 30th status report on a 5 month old beta install.
I appreciate you encouraging me to look more closely, but it would have saved me, and probably a few other people some time if you'd simply repeated the instructions on finding the log.
If you really wanted to drive home the fact that I'm an idiot, quoting the earlier post would have made your point and still performed a service.