so i installed some updates on my laptop this afternoon, only to find that after rebooting that network manager has completely stopped seeing my wireless.

in a friday-afternoon-gotta-fix-this panic (made worse by the fact that i need wifi to get online here) i loaded up my $100 laptop and got online and made a post on the ubuntu fourms: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=6772296#post6772296