Much to my dissapointment, the computer problems that plagued me recently were indeed hardware related, which I found out when my C drive decided to break down entirely. I have another drive on hand, but I've been unable to use the startup CD (my computer came with that instead of the actual WinXP media) to get it running again, so once again I'm stuck sneaking time on someone else's computer and trying to find a (legal) way to avoid paying $179 for a copy of XP Home.
Dark and I will keep in touch and do our best to keep up the pace.