So after three days of trying, I finally obtained the latest version of openSUSE.  It is definitely worth the time to upgrade.  I ended up wiping my entire drive (say bye, bye Vista) and finally organizing it properly for a Linux install.  So when I say its worth the effort, you can bet its definitely a worthwhile upgrade.  You can go and read about all the new gee-whiz stuff, but I will let you know that if you are looking for a Linux to try or upgrade to, this is it.  I even made the move to 64 bit finally.  All the necessary codecs and programs (except Bluefish) have finally been ported to 64 bit, and the video driver works awesomely with Compiz. 

Anyway, this upgrade only took me half the time as usual, and now I am going to quit neglecting my family.  Here is a link if you want to give it a try.