Well the lumpiness is something i have been able to "test" many times i guess you could say...
Starting up it's fine, in park.
Once i shift into drive and pull away, all is fine until i stop at a stop sign a couple blocks away.
It starts lumping rather badly when i slow down and very much when i'm stopped for the moment. Feels like it's just about to stall. If i give it just a quick burst of throttle it smooths out.

I live in a small town and i have to go through 10 or so stops and goes before i'm on my way anywheres, and so at each slow down and stop the engine really lumps.
But once i leave town and drive somewhere 5 or 10 minutes away, and arrive at a destination and come to stop signs and traffic lights, all is well. There is no more lumping and all is normal and smooth.

I would love to be able to narrow down the list of possible causes based on this. I used to think it might be the valve adjustment needed or the timing chain being off. But that sounds wrong now.

As a total newbie, my theory is that it could be one of three things...

1. it has to do with filters causing the hangup somewhere, and once they're saturated they're ok.
2. it is the linkage needing adjustment and the stasis of the system with the throttle off is that there isn't enough fuel coming into the engine at idle, but after running the engine long enough there is enough "residual" fuel sitting in the engine for things to run smoothly.
3. it has to do with air getting into the fuel system but this gets purged by running the car long enough.

I haven't replaced the fuel tank filter yet. I did replace both the pre filter and main fuel filter in the engine bay in October.