In response to a customer request I finally added internal pullup support in the Centipede Library ( for either the Centipede Shield or DIP MCP23017 chips).
Link: http://docs.macetech.com/doku.php/centipede_shield#code_example
Bonus tip: the MCP23017 supports up to 1.7MHz I2C speed, though the Arduino does not. However, the Arduino does support 400KHz I2C operation. For 16MHz Arduinos, simply add TWBR = 12; in your setup() function after Wire.begin();