Good to know I'm not the only one in the area.
I've been playing with Linux since '99. I don't really use it as a desktop OS much but rather as my server. I prefer Win2k as a desktop OS. Before I got rid of them, I had several other Linux only PC's. Now I just have my server and my Win2k box. Whenever I feel the need to try out some new/updated Linux distros, I just fire up VMWare and install them there.
BTW, I frequent
JustLinux (formerly known as LinuxNewbie.org) as The Whizzard and
Linux Junior as Whiz. Great sites to help you out if/when needed on Linux problems.