c0d3Man:
like I said, I've got a parallel programmer, so I can program the chip through the ICSP header next to it, and no, I don't have any other of these "pocket programmers" that you speak of, nor do I have another arduino. I'm thinking I need to find a different solution though cause Atmel refuses to send samples to anyone using anything other than a business email, maybe I can get a chip from Microchip or something, anyone have some recommendations on chips that are good for serial to USB?
Well check out the FTDI FT232RL chip as used in the older versions of the arduino board before they switched to using Atmel chips as USB serial converter chips. The driver for the FTDI USB converter still is part of the current IDE installation distrubution so that the IDE can continue to support older arduino boards.
Lefty