John, I'm not sure how to clear my cache, but here's my results with simply 1500 rows in the RegStatus Table.  I'd like some more data in that table to...

Currently I've only tested it with that sample data and it performs much better according to the execution plans (from how I know how to read them).  Next step is...

John, thanks for the detailed explanations.  I really appreciate your perspective.  I didn't realize that I can still use a CTE in a function without making a temp table.  I'll...

John, I appreciate the prompt reply.

(1) I'm currently looking into CTEs and cannot figure out how they'll help the situation.  Currently I have this code in a UDF (not explained...