Thanks everyone for your suggestions. What I've learned here and elsewhere is that I need to get a new grinder, a scale, buy beans every week, and that the Silvia is an extremely temperamental beast.
I don't doubt that but all I want is to stagger out of bed and pour a decent shot or two to kick start my day, not become a high precision barista. i think the answer is to get a new machine that is more forgiving (but no, NOT a nespresso or other k-cup style one). I'll gladly settle for a merely decent pour at this point.