Your character date should still be there, particularly if it's "only" been a couple of years. When you reinstall (or otherwise get to the server list), your character counts should be there, so just hop back onto one of the existing characters. Assuming you can recall or recover the login info. Their customer service blows when it comes to password recovery, IMHO.
With Cataclysm, you get more "day job" options, like archeology and a couple of others. I have been thinking about getting another 60 day card, myself, but I haven't been able to convince myself that I need to buy Cataclysm until I get more than one character above lvl60. My highest is in the mid thirties, and the next closest just got a mount, so I'm not in any danger of getting there, soon.