Kelly,
I have been reading your posts for a while now about your cylinder head job, and since I can do mine with my eyes closed now, I wanted to impart my 2 cents. My head was cracked about a year and a half ago, and even after the shop fixed the crack, one of the plugs started leaking, so I had to do it all over again. First, to answer some of your questions:
The cylinder head weighs about 60-80 pounds. It is difficult to get off, but is definetely possible to do alone. Getting it on is also possible alone, but like you speculated, it is a good idea to get a friend to help so that you don't damage the head gasket upon reinstallation. I would use a quality gasket like one from Fel-Pro (I swear by them only), and don't use gasket sealer! The only reason people have been telling you to use a drop or two at the edges is to "secure" the gasket on the head so that it doesn't slip during installation of your head--which makes no sense because the gasket stays in place plenty easy with some of the water jacket sleaves that protrude from the block. If you use gasket sealer, the next time you need to do this job it will be a pain in the ass and you may have to have the gunk machined off (surface machined). As long as you can adequately clean both mating surfaces (head and block) you should be able to replace the head without machining the block. Always a good idea (and is standard procedure) to have the bottom of the head surfaced at the machine shop, since it is off the vehicle and easily transportable. (you cannot machine the block while it is in the truck.) As a rule of thumb, for every "n" cylinders in a block, the gasket will absorb "n" thousandths of an inch of warpage between the mating surfaces. Thus, for the 2F, the gasket should be able to absorb a maximum of 6 thousandths of an inch of gap between the surface. Take a trusted straight edge (metal t-squares for woodworking work great) and run it along the top of the block from the back of the block towards the front. While doing this, shine a flash light along its contact point and look for shining light coming through. If this happens at any place, indicating an uneven surface, take a feeler gauge to the gap and measure its thickness. If it is over 6 thousandths of an inch, worry, and you'll have to get the block machined. If not, happy sailing.
What else...
The face plate on the side of the block that covers the push rods is not necessary to remove, unless you want to install new lifters, etc. I would make sure, however, that you replace the pushrods in the exact sequence that you removed them (i.e., the pushrods that you removed from any slot should go back in that same slot. This will assure that any slight changes in length of the pushrods (thousandths of an inch) created from differential heating, cooling, and stresses exerted on the rods will not create any problems in runability-since your engine has "gotten used to" those changes in each rod at their previous places in the assembly.
If any gunk or rust accumulates in the cylinders while you have the head off, like on the cylinder walls, you can use emory cloth to clean these surfaces. Understand that scoring your cylinder walls is BAD, because it will create a vacuum leak between the cylinder wall and the piston (the rings), however infinitesimal scratches created by cleaning the cylinder walls with emory cloth will only allow a slightly higher amount of oil to lubricate the cylinder walls, which is actually GOOD.
Doing a head job on a 2F is relatively easy, since you don't have to mess with timing until you adjust the valves after the head is reinstalled.
Oh yeah...removing the head. Other than the screwdriver slot that was mentioned before, the other easy way to get it off the block is banging it with a soft headed mallet. This, of course, will not damage the metal in any way, and should generate enough shock to knock the head loose from the block.
Other than that...cover the block while the head is off with a towel or something so that debris doesn't fall in the cylinders. If I think of anything else, I'll let you know, and send me an email if things get difficult again. Good luck!

Elfman
'81 FJ60