Tire squeaking and vibrating gas pedal

Hi all, I'm new to the forum, but I'm having some car issues. Knowing little about cars, I don't know how serious or dangerous my issues are. Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated.

Several months ago I started noticing a rhythmic squeaking sound coming from my front driver side wheel. It has gotten steadily worse, although it still is not constant. It occurs sometimes at all speeds and the rhythm of the sound increases with speed until it is basically a constant whine at freeway speeds.

I've taken the car to a tire/wheel shop and the mechanic was unable to duplicate the sound (of course) when he took it out to drive. He put it up on a rack and said that something (I think it was the cv joint) was loose. The sound seems to be more intense in dry weather and I suspect (what seems obvious to me) that the sound has to do with friction somewhere. I don't know if this could mean something serious. I'm planning on selling the car or getting rid of it in June when I move to Boston from California.

In the last two weeks or so I've noticed what I thought was shimmying in the front driver side tire. Then last night driving home from work I noticed when I got to freeway speeds the gas pedal started shaking intensely, or vibrating. I got off the freeway quickly and drove home on surface streets, but the vibration continued on and off the rest of the way home. It seemed to ease off when I took my foot off the gas, and usually started up immediately or quickly when I started up again.

Driving to school today on surface streets only I didn't notice the vibration, but now I'm off to work and I suspect I'll feel it again on the freeway. I am a busy and poor working student with two jobs and lots to do, so finding time to get to a mechanic is difficult. Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to be as thorough as possible, and any suggestions, warnings or information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.