Finally, however, I've come up with a simple solution using Butler and GeekTool: one keystroke to toggle between my two settings, and an unobtrusive 45 or 1 in the bottom corner of the screen.
First off, in Butler add a new AppleScript smart item, and paste this in as the source:
set thetime to ¬
(do shell script ¬
"pmset -g | grep displaysleep | awk '{ print $2; }'") ¬
as number
if thetime is 1 then
set thetime to 45
else
set thetime to 1
end if
do shell script ("pmset dim " & thetime) password ¬
"YOURPASSWORDHERE" with administrator privileges
Replace YOURPASSWORDHERE with either your admin password, or for the more security-aware, just remove the password "YOURPASSWORDHERE" part, and it will prompt you each time. Next, set a keyboard trigger for the AppleScript. I'm using F16, because it's right next to the dim/brighten buttons.
Now, on to the GeekTool display! In GeekTool, add a new Shell entry, setting the refresh rate to every five seconds (more or less depending on how responsive you want it to be), and paste this in as the command:
pmset -g | grep displaysleep | awk '{ print $2; }'
Position it to your liking and choose a font (I did white/Arial). That's it! Toggling your screen's display time is just a keyboard stroke away!

