I had another thought.
my problem could be with how i start x-windows (i.e. just using startx with little or no arguments).
Maybe i need to go in and edit my xinitrc file some...or possibly use xdm/kdm/gdm/whatever.
I just checked in the xinitrc file (the global one cause i don't have a local one...yet), and i can't say i know much about shell scripting like that. i've been googling a lot but i can't find anything specific enough for my situation. any thoughts/ideas?