From an IO view, limit LOBs whenever possible, the number of varchar(max) declarations are going to kill your IO. Another item is to consider using Temp tables vs table...

If the data / cleanup involved LOBs then to free the extents that are allocated to the table structure you need to run DBCC cleantable, then dbcc shrinkfile(N'db, 0)

Sad state of affairs - MS stole them . . .

refer to http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms187367.aspx

Their reasoning - "For backwards compatibility, sp_xml_preparedocument collapses the CR (char(13)) and LF (char(10)) characters in attributes...

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/915846

Lots to read - But I think the actual work will be performed by your network admin.

In order to use UNC mapping you must have SQL Server configured to run as a user with network access.