so for the past day i went thru all the books i have, electronic and otherwise, and compiled a big list of all the spells i would like to eventually research that have nothing to do with adventuring fighting and dungeoneering. it took a while, but i found a bunch of them. monte cook's stuff has a lot of decent spells. i will eventually have my wizard take the time to research them.
as to the other aspects of this thread, in the style of game we play, there are more non-adventuring wizards than adventuring wizards. the non-adventuring ones can level just as high as the adventuring ones. we actually give xp for making magic items, and give xp for researching spells--we don't take xp away for performing a class function. it never made sense that a low level wizard can beat the hell out of an orc with a big wooden stick, kill it and gain xp, but if he actually did something more true to his class, like scribe a scroll, he loses xp.
since cost is the primary determiner of how many spells and magic items one can create, that's the reason many wizards turn to a life of adventure. but obviously, a wizard could have other means of income less dangerous. like investments in mercantile companies, sales of alchemical or herbalistic goods, use his spells for communication purposes for clients, teleport others or items over long distances, perform scribe or sage services, etc. therefore, adventuring wizards usually go up in level faster than non-adventuring wizards, who have less gp at their disposal. therefore they make fewer magic items and perform less research, and don't gain as much xp.
Challenges aren't always combat oriented in our campaigns. a wizard overcomes the challenge of creating an item or scroll, or researching a new spell, hence he gets xp. a blacksmith overcomes the challenge of making a suit of armor, hence he gains xp.
so anyhow, what i have been doing is filling in the blanks with spells other than combat/adventuring oriented ones.
i appreciate all the helpful advice and pointers.