Ferment went like crazy a couple of days, as I said, but has held at a pretty steady rate since. Yes, the OG was 1.044 - seemed low to me, but I checked it and rechecked it (took me a long time and lots of disasters, but I finally learned to believe the instruments in the kitchen).
I will likely rack to a secondary just due to my schedule - about the time the primary is done, I have just enough time to cook up another batch before I go on the road for a couple of weeks. I also plan to dry hop the Amber a bit.
So the biggest reason for secondary is to clarify? My first beer, a Williams Triple Hopped Ale, seems to respond well to bottle aging - would a secondary serve to that end?
My biggest quandry is what to make next (that and the fact that my 22-yr-old is here for the summer and appreciates good beer, since his is mostly a pbr budget). Being here in OR, I tend to follow the crowd and like big, hoppy stuff. But I think an English porter or bitter will be the next one.