Third time lucky

Following my recent abortive attempt to update Debian Lenny to Squeeze, I've increasingly impatient to try out Squeeze. A couple of days ago I decided to go for a fresh install, something I'd been reluctant to try, because my CD drive is failing.
The first attempt at installation stalled. I tried cleaning the CD drive lens with a cotton bud and some cleaning alcohol.
The second attempt stalled in the same place. I was about to give up and resign myself to having no computer for a while until I could take this laptop to the repair shop. Then I remembered what had saved me the previous time- the baby nose pump. Fortunately, it was still around, and our baby is a toddler now and doesn't use it, so it was snotty but dry.
A few blasts with the nose pump and the installation went through smoothly!
More posts to follow on Debian Squeeze beta.