The Checkpoint SecureRemote / SecureClient package was the source of our woes. We were using "NGX R60 HFA1". Upgrading to "NGX R60 HFA2" caused the problem to disappear immediately.

Shame on me for not thinking about eliminating this common factor between all the crashing machines sooner. I'm dumb.

I just saw another Ashton Nikon commercial-- this time for the D60. Mr. Kutcher's performance was, of course, shudder-worthy. What really threw me into shock, though, was the pronunciation of the brand name of the interchangeable lenses. I've always pronounced Nikon to rhyme with icon, and Nikkor the the same long-i sound as I would use in Nikon. To hear the commercial, though, Nikkor is pronounced as knicker-- as in, say, The Power of Orange Knickers.

Ewww!

Nikkor with the long-i sounds bitchin'. Nikkor pronounced like knicker sounds like underwear. Strapping a pair of underwear onto my DSLR doesn't sound good at all.

Still, I don't think I'm going to be buying any Sigma lenses over this. In fact, I'd like to get my hands on a Nikon AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G lens. It would be a lot nicer to use than the 50mm f/1.8 AI-s Nikon Series E lens that I'm currently using on my D40. I can't complain about the Series E lens. It was $25.00 from eBay and it's sharp as all get out. I'm getting sick of shooting in manual mode w/ manual focus, though. I keep trying to tell myself that it builds character, but I'm beginning to feel like my character is sufficiently built.