If at work so I cant be real specific but here goes:

I installed the spring Mandy - all is good.

Went to the vmware site and downloaded the newest sever (.rpm) and installed it. When I went to run the config.pl it asked for my kernel source.

I thought no prob - open the add/remove software and I could not find the desktop kernel source. I found a few others but no kernel source for desktop kernel.

First - where can I find it? (Ill get the exact kernel when I get home)

also - with my system what kernel (with source) should I be working with. Ill get to rolling my own later but I just want a good working one for now. Even though I have a 64bit cpu I installed the 32bit distro for now. - specs in sig.

You will need the latest any-any patch (1.1.5a semi-official, 1.1.6 unofficial) and use the ./runme.pl script that is included.
Also have in mind that currently all VMWare products (excluding Workstation 6.5 beta) have issues with xorg 1.3.X: when you use alt+ctrl+enter to alter the fullscreen VM window, then your host keyboard will start to behave funnily (er, it's not that funny- I can assure you...).

Wow - I didnt know that but was a witness to the lockup a few times. I thought something was a miss- thanks!!!