I have a sinking feeling that the answer to my question will be no, but here
goes anyway:

Is it possible to "lock" (or group) a block of rows (and blocks of rows
throughout the spreadsheet) so that

1) the blocks of rows will stay intact (i.e., not sorted when the
spreadsheet itself is sorted), and
2) only the first row in the blocks of rows will be the ones that are
sorted?  That is, instead of individual rows being sorted, the blocks of rows
will be sorted.

I realize this is perhaps a bizarre question, and the Excel experts will be
perplexed as to why I would want to do such a thing, but it would take to
long to explain.

I also realize there is grouping of rows in the data menu, but this is not
what I am looking for (I don't want the rows hidden; I want them to be
visible and sorted as a group).  

In addition, I would like to add / insert occasionally new rows in various
places of these "locked" blocks.  This would undoubtedly involve locking and
unlocking these blocks, perhaps a tedious and / or impossible task.  I
possible, I'm sure a complicated macro would have to be created, but I'm
afraid macro creation is way over my head.