T- I tried waiting for the SSP1IF interrupt, but it never happened! The pic spec indicates that you clear it after the start condition is complete (SEN = 1) and you have written to SSP1BUF (PIC18F87K90 Family figure 21-23), but maybe I have to clear it before writing to the buffer.

D - I prefer to talk directly to the MSSP module because I2CWRITE wouldn't let me send just an address and look for a NACK.