problem with dns/network

[jpugh@gladstone.uoregon.edu (enantiomer)]

hi everyone.  I am having some network/dns problems.  my first problem
is that when first booted up, the network isn't automatically
configured and i have to ifdown and ifup it to make it work.  my
second problem is when I go to mozilla and type in a page like
www.google.com, it take a VERY long time (like 5-10 minutes maybe). It
keeps on saying "sending request..." and just sits there for a while. 
It seems like it will get there eventually, so I thought maybe it was
a dns issue. Below is a copy of my interfaces, host.conf, and
resolv.conf files...

---------------------interfaces -------------------------------
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
  address 192.168.1.22
  netmask 255.255.255.0
  network 192.168.1.0
  broadcast 192.168.1.255
  gateway 192.168.1.1
---------------------end of interfaces-------------------------

---------------------host.conf ---------------------------------
order hosts,bind
multi on
---------------------end host.conf ------------------------------

----------------------resolv.conf ------------------------------------
search eggnog
nameserver 204.127.198.4
-----------------------end
resolv.conf---------------------------------

As I understand it, search represents the local domain.. i couldn't
remember if that was what I named my local domain or not... is there a
way to check this?  Also, the nameserver is the same one that I use
for my other linux machine, which works just fine.  BTW, the machine
that isn't working well is a laptop with a pcmcia network card, if
that is relevant? I'm totally in the dark when it comes to linux
networking configurations. Anyone see anything wrong of have any
advise?  Thanks a million,
   Jon