Remove the dock, completely?

[Yumunum]

I now use Launchpad + Spotlight for opening apps, and I was looking for a way to remove the dock. I can set it to automatically hide/show, but it still appears in Launchpad and Exposé. It's kinda annoying. Are there any ways for me to get rid of it, or "hide" I more permanently? I realize the Trash would be gone... But I'm hoping there's a workaround for that too. Or a way for the dock to only be shown on-demand.

Thanks in advance!