no panel

[Randy Bush]

>> created new user.  results are the same, except i have not
>> waited the full hour to see if the panel really starts.  heck,
>> it's been ten minutes and i am still looking at the footprint
>> flash.
> What about your hostname?  Does it resolve quickly in either DNS
> or /etc/hosts?

both, i am a belt and braces type.  and i tested both forward and
reverse dns data for the host from the host itself as well as a
different host on the lan.

>  Do you see any errors on the console 

nope

> or in ~/.xsession-errors?

empty

> Are you starting GNOME with startx or GDM?

startx with the following .xinitrc

    eval `/usr/bin/ssh-agent -s`
    xrdb -load $HOME/.Xresources
    xmodmap $HOME/.Xmodmap
    xset +dpms dpms 600 1200 0
    xset mouse 3 1
    xset r rate 660 25
    xset fp+ /usr/home/randy/.Xincludes
    gnome-session

and, if i forgot to mention it, all this is new since cvsup-grade
on tuesday.  and i have new ports tree as of yesterday, and have
portupgraded -r and -R.

randy, feeling pretty clueless