For an hour or two before your comment I had 10-15 second pauses before ET came back on any command, e.g.: preview, post, click on a comment I wish to view on "My comments" etc.  Connection to ET was not so much a problem, or I didn't notice/wasn't bothered. I run XP and, as of this AM Firefox .17? (latest & greatest and it didn't even ask, just updated and informed.)

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."