fixed the problem without really figuring it out.  Basically I think i had
too many versions of org-mode in my load-path, and somehow some of org-odt's
functions were being overridden by the default versions.  I removed the
ubuntu ppa packages from my system, took my old git copy out of my
load-path, and voila! eveyrthing works.  Thanks J!  this is a huge help with
my grant documents, actually, and comes at a very useful time.
matt