I'd like to thank Pixel Monkey for starting a very interesting thread in Avid's Tips & Tutorials area.
His first post gave me the inspiration for this Tutorial.
The url to his thread is:

http://community.avid.com/forums/t/62367.aspx

The "Quick Transition" Menu has a choice of:  Disslove, Film Dissolve, Film Fade, Fade to Colour, Fade from Colour and Dip to Colour transitions.
The Tutorial explains how you can add your own creations to the drop down menu in the "Quick Transform" dialogue box.
The basic concept opens up numerous possibilities that could help you speed things up a bit when you are using your "favourite" transition creations.

Good luck!
Douglas