Well, to update my situation, I went to my dealership today. I had to postpone last week's appointment. Anyway, I got the "can't duplicate" and everything else checked out ok. The tech did go out with me then but of course, the tranny didn't make any strange noises. Since it happens mostly after the car has been parked for several hours he suggested that I drop it off one evening so that they can check it the following morning.
Since I'm not having any strange noises driving I'm thinking my issue may just be the sound the VDC makes when it does its' self test when you first start it up. And after doing plenty of reading about the CVT, the other things that I thought were "wrong" are actually the way it's supposed to work. So, bottom line, I'm going to stop worrying about it and enjoy my Rogue. If the tranny fails, well, I'll deal with it at that point.

I did have a nice surprise though this morning. My husband had ordered the rear spoiler for me so that was installed this morning too! Looks really good.