urllib2 occasionally hanging

[Ron Alford [KB0NUV]]

I have a python program running on a win2k machine (python version 2.2.1).
The specific part of the program that I'm concerned with is a simple
urlopen that runs every 5 minutes or so. The line reads: 

furl = urllib2.urlopen(updateURL)

Every so often, this call will go out, and never, ever return.  It doesn't
seem to leave a trace in the web server's log.  I have a deep suspicion
that this is a syscall that's getting hung up and never returning.

Anyone have a cute trick around this?

-Ron