I'm very sorry about this, but there's nothing else I can do but wait til I have DSL again. Which is this weekend, I was told. The blame is entirely on their end so at least I'm getting free service for the next 3 months.

I'm hoping that when I can access my email again, all the IM's sent will be there, but I worry about any items dropped on me while I'm away. I might've lost them. In this case, I ask anyone who has IM'ed me for fitting requests to resend the requests with all the proper stuff when I'm "officially" back online. By then, I'll be able to accept them within the same day.
Anyway, my regards and I thank everyone who has been patient so far.
Lash