How can I move files by using the keyboard only? I'm looking for some kind of a utility that lets me select a file(s) and then say hit a command key and then move to a difference directory and hit the command key again and have those files moved to the new location.

I think I have seen some similar apps where you could drop files onto a dock icon to gather them but I cant recall the names.

Any suggestions?
Have a look at Move files using just keyboard in Mac Finder? for a discussion of the same topic, listing a lot of options.

Assuming you are running Lion you can move files by using Cmd-C to pick them up and Cmd-Opt-V to move them to the target location.