If you run WordPress in your webroot, it grabs all of the URLs and if it doesn’t recognize one, it returns a 404. So, you need to add this to your .htaccess, BEFORE the WordPress rewrite section to get to your DreamHost statistics page:
# For DreamHost stats
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/(stats|failed_auth\.html).*$ [NC]
RewriteRule . – [L]
</IfModule>
Not to muck up your blog, but I have a question about Drupal as a CMS, I remember you preferred Joomla (sp?).
Also, I am curious about the efficacy of Solaris or Linux for our library OS. I saw a presentation about a library (closer to you, Howard County in Maryland) that uses Linux and Open Office, Firefox for applications. How does that all work? Where do I start?
I have an old laptop at home I could load with either Solaris or Linux, could be my sandbox.