Hi All,
After browsing the Micro Electronics Lab website and doing research on Google, I was inspired to design and build my own PIC experimenter's board. It will have the following:
40 Pin ZIF Socket
8 LEDs
4 Pushbutton switches
2x16 LCD display
USB programmer
64K I2C EEPROM
Temperature and Humidity sensors
Potentiometer for 0-5V analog input
Piezoelectric buzzer

The ZIF socket will be wired for a 16F887, with all of the port connections coming out to female headers. The peripherals will also have female header connectors for easy interconnects.
Other PICs will be available for use by inserting them into an interface board wired with different sized sockets. The interface board will have 40 pins that plug into the ZIF socket, allowing any PIC to have access to any of the port pins and any of the peripherals. The only restriction to the use of the interface board is that only the PIC in use can be plugged into its socket; the other sockets cannot be populated.
I will post schematics and a bill of materials soon.
regards,
mike