[My avatar on second life wont load, just stays as a 'egg' shape]

I had the same problem.  I just went into Advanced, Character Test, and choose Male or Female.  It'll load a default character, once it does that, then you can just reattach your items, and wear your body, shape, etc.  It's a pain to redo all of those, but it beats not being able to see your avatar at all.  (Using Phoenix Viewer when I did this)