Prior to opening up the ferementer tonight I did notice some activity in the
airlock but I'd say 3-4 minutes passsed between 'burps' so there is a wee
bit of hungry yeast left.

Intial gravity before I pitched the yeast was 1.040. Today it is at 1.017.
I'm going to take another reading in the morning and then again tomorrow
night. If there is no movement from 1.017 I guess it is time to bottle.
When I pulled the lid off the fermenter I noticed a subtle film of oil. Is
this from the hop pellets? Should I be overly concerned?

Otherwise the beer has retreated from the hops and left them clinging to the
sides of the fermenter. During transfer to my bottling vessel I should be
extra careful not to get hops in there, right?

The beer smells sweet, malty and boozy. I'm pretty excited. I damned near
drank my sample for the hydrometer, but given that I dunno how clean the
hydrometer is, I thought it best just to throw out the sample when I was
done.