Catching very specific exceptions

[Harlin Seritt]

Reasons why it still won't work:

* Firewall
* Unknown-modes-operating-systems-get-into

Yeah, I dont think these things can be avoided. Nonetheless, if I can
come up with some way (via help from this group--thank God!) to find if
the node is up (barring the two aforementioned reasons), I am doing
well. Maybe my standards are not so high. :-|

Nonetheless, thanks for the help and the commentary. I was beginning to
think I was losing my mind.

Harlin