well, i click on the appropriate download link - windows USA. and the page doesn't load. it just says that the connection timed out, and thnat it's either too busy or temporarily unavailable. suck s . looks like really good software too. does this have to do with the fact that i haven't installed python 2.4? or is it maybe my firewall?

It's probably just a problem with a mirror. Try downloading from a different mirror - it'll download fine, it just may be a slightly slower download than a mirror geographically closer.