BassnHarp:
I did look at the part but being a complete newbie I had no idea how to use it for this application. What you are saying is that you can use that under $2 part to "charge" the capacitor and to "regulate" the power coming out of it. I used the quotes because I'm not sure I'm using the correct terms. It does look like it is surface mounted which at this point I have not mastered either.
You can get small pre-built boards to do the boost to 5V (or 3V) so you don't have to mess with the parts. Pololu 5V Step-Up Voltage Regulator NCP1402 these have the same pin-out as a three-pin regulator so you can drop them in place.