InfoPath Dev

I'm in my second week of using InfoPath, so I'm posting here to see if I'm on the right track or not.

The scenario is that I have server maintenance request forms that need to be filled out, assigned an Owner, and then routed to an Approver.

Here's what I've got so far:

•  SharePoint
• Form Library where the completed forms will be submitted
  
• Owners list - consists of a single column "Owner" of type "Person or Group". Currently holds the two DBAs who work maintenance requests
• Approvers list - consists of a single column "Approver" of type "Person or Group". Currently holds the 1 manager who approves these requests
• InfoPath form
• Requester field - gets the current user
• Some date and text fields to describe and prioritize the request
• Owner drop-down - loads the list of users in the Owners list in SP

Problem I'm having right now - I can't get the Domain ID/Account for the list of Owners. The Owner drop-down is a text field, and IP is loading it with the preferred name of the user. I can demote that field when I publish the form, but it just saves the full name in a text column in the form library. When I go to do something with that in a workflow, it doesn't work because it needs the Domain/Account.

Question - Am I even going about this the right way? I've been searching forums and blogs for days without seeing my scenario being addressed, which makes me think I'm missing something basic. Is there a better way to store a dynamic list of users in SharePoint, make that list available in an IP form, and then pass info of whichever user was selected to a workflow so they can get tasks assigned and receive emails?

Thanks in advance

Should I ask this in a different forum? 

I was definitely missing something basic. I was able to solve this problem by adding the "User Information List" from the root of my SharePoint site as a data source.  One of the fields in the User Information List is the domain account, so I did a lookup against that data source using the full name that was selected in the form and stored the resulting domain account in a hidden field on my form. When the form was saved to SharePoint, the domain account was available to workflow and I was able to assign tasks and send emails to that user.

I've posted a more detailed answer at MSDN here