Software locking up with Lion

I have a 27-inch iMac with the Intel processor and the most current version of Lion. Until about two weeks ago, it was incredibly fast and completely awesome.  Then I encountered a problem with software locking up the whole system and the only solution was to turn it off and then on again.  After four calls to Apple Care, the problem still wasn't solved.  I took it into the Genius Bar at my local Apple Store and they had it for about eight days.  The hard drive passed all the tests, but I needed a new fan.  After that was installed, the hard drive continued to pass all the tests.  I brought it home and just two days later I had another aggravating software lockup that required me to turn it off and on again.  I went back to the Genius Bar and the awesome tech re-installed Lion.  YAY!  That seemed to fix it. 
It's two days later and I had another lockup, this time while I was working in Excel. This was the first lockup with Excel.  I typically have Mail, Word, Firefox, and Zotero (the standalone) open at all times because I'm working on my dissertation.  However, there doesn't seem to be any one thing I do in any of those programs that causes the lockups.  It just happens for no reason.
The last genius who worked on my machine said that the next step...if it failed again...would be to go back in and completely wipe the hard drive and then reinstall from my backup.  Before I go back in there and spend more time trying to fix this issue, has anyone else had this problem?  At least it isn't happening all the time right now, but I'm guessing it's a software problem.  Something might not be playing well with Lion. 
One quick note...my iMac was one of the ones with the faulty hard drives.  I had it replaced a year ago and it has worked perfectly until the past two weeks.  Again, the hard drive passes all the tests and now I have a new fan that seems to be working.  There isn't a hardware reason for the computer to keep locking up like this.  UGH!  HELP!!

I have no idea what caused the problem.  I hadn't added anything when it started, but the final diagnosis was that something deep in the system software wasn't working.  Therefore, I had to erase the hard drive and do a clean reinstall of Lion.  Then I used the Migration Assistant to move everything but the system software back.  This has taken me all weekend to accomplish and I swear my head will explode if the problems aren't completely gone now. 
By the way, in all of my aggravation, I looked on the online communities for Apple and Mozilla, among others.  There doesn't seem to be anyone writing about this **** I experienced.  Hopefully I'm an anomaly.  I'm posting this response so there's a record of what happened.  If it benefits anyone else, maybe some benefit will come out of my hellish last month.
Jennifer

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