Update-- realized the problem. Setting a function key shortcut actually does work, but I had moved the shortcut off the desktop into another folder, and so the keyboard shortcut was not getting reset...

Thank you for the replies. I will look into AutoHotKey. Regarding the desktop shortcut method I am trying,

It actually will allow me to map certain single keys as shortcuts (e.g, the function...

My keyboard does does not have a sleep button so I setup a desktop shortcut with the command line command (rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState 0,1,0) per instructions on various sites and setup...