...of not fixing it till it doesn't work the way I want it to...and for my uses Linux always "just worked".
But...for some reason...the last install didn't compile smbfs into the kernel...and that was the first true instance of it not working the way I wanted it to. So...thanks to the guys helping me through it...I fixed it...and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.
I'd upgraded kernels (well...I did that once on a Mandrake box...and it was not without pain)...but never custom built one.