>>What kind of a programming mechanism you recommend to either prevent it or minimize it?
>
>I solved this problem by changing the error alert email address to point to someone who's a lot younger than I am.

Dima, give this man three stars and a drink, this is THE solution :).

>If that option isn't available have you tried several retries?

I was thinking of timed retries, too. Assuming that this is M$'s famous method of speeding up the network by automatically closing temporarily unused connections (and thus reducing cross-talk), then the mechanism would be to re-establish the connection on demand. So the first attempt fails, but then it creates a demand and, depending on how fast the server reacts, some time later a repeated attempt should find the server available. Fingers crossed, of course.