Permission problems

[ColdPack]

Hey there... I am so happy to get gentoo installed. It's really nice.
But...
I am having several permissions issues.
I've added my regular user to audio (I'm using alsa), wheel (so I can su to root), as well as dialout and a couple of other groups.
I still can't connect to the internet with my modem as a regular user. I used pppconfig to setup my connection which works just fine as root. I don't know what to do to use "pon" and "poff" as a reg. user. I also use Debian and the pppconfig program lets you add additional users but this pppconfig doesn't do that. So I'm kind of stuck.
Also, only root can use gnome-terminal... not a regular user. It just craps out. I get an error message in a window that says (poor grammar, by the way) "There has been an error while trying to log in. If the SHELL environment variable is empty, or there is no specified in the passwd file for your user, one of these problems need to be corrected for the to run."
Great... what does that mean?
The last issue is, I need to add my reg. user to these groups everytime I restart my computer. It seems as if I need to add myself to the wheel group again and again so I can su to root. Seems to be every time I shut the computer down and start it up again later, it doesn't remember I am in the wheel group. Stinky.
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer. Especially the "pon" and "poff" thing. I don't like connecting as root when I just want to check email and surf the web. That's a bit too dangerous for my liking.
Take care all!
CP