I know its getting old, but I swear this is the last question.

The car is great, runs, drives, and drives good.

However whenever its about to shift into the next gear, there is a weird noise coming from the front end on the right side. it only happens as the car is about to shift into the next gear. It sorta sounds like a buzz saw going through a steel pipe. It only last 1-2 seconds.

Its kinda unnerving, seeing as how its at 75,000 miles and thats about the time the tranny fails...

any ideas?

Check for buzz saws, they tend to get stuck up there.

I may be a loose heat shield,they tend to rot and make buzzing noises at different engine loads and rpms.
Try to reproduce it with the car in drive hold your foot on the brake and slowly apply the gas and see if you can get it to buzz.
do not do this for long because you can damage the transmission.
If you can get to happen get the car up on a lift and see which shield is loose.Tap on them with a rubber mallet.
You can use large worm clamps to secure the loose shield.

Can you hear the noise when you just free rev the engine?

If this is the case, which 99 percent of the time it is, then what your experiencing is where the harmonics of the engine come in tune with the loose shield. That is why it buzzes. Its just really annoying.

Mazda can make babby (http://www.somethingawful.com/flash/shmorky/babby.swf)?