Still cant burn 9.04 iso but - that is now beside the point. I was finally able
to reinstall 9.04 on my system and this is how I did it:
Ok... didnt actually solve the problem but I fixed my situation.

Downloaded another 9.04 distro from outside the US.
Used yet another thumb drive.
Wrote to that.
Rebooted.
Hold ESC - boot menu - choose usb-fdd
Reboot
Hold DEL for bios
Look in hd - move the thumb drive to the top
reboot
Im in :D