Here's what I'm seeing downloading the block chain now (each of these are SetBestChain calls, parsed through awk).
2012-03-08 17:43:13 (0s elapsed) best=0000000019fcb554faef height=14000
2012-03-08 17:46:18 (185s elapsed) best=000000000871e813323a height=14001
2012-03-08 17:46:31 (13s elapsed) best=000000000f60295af34f height=14002
2012-03-08 17:46:31 (0s elapsed) best=0000000019c41e1c36f4 height=14003
...
2012-03-08 17:48:56 (1s elapsed) best=000000001411ef303df1 height=14500
2012-03-08 17:52:14 (198s elapsed) best=000000001954852f2353 height=14501
2012-03-08 17:52:23 (9s elapsed) best=00000000102efff0a206 height=14502
...
2012-03-08 17:54:42 (0s elapsed) best=000000001c571559854d height=15000
2012-03-08 17:58:22 (220s elapsed) best=000000002b63eb1b0d54 height=15001
2012-03-08 17:58:31 (9s elapsed) best=0000000007a7c6cc2078 height=15002
2012-03-08 17:58:31 (0s elapsed) best=000000001f192fedaa59 height=15003
...
2012-03-08 18:00:46 (0s elapsed) best=00000000278dd687559a height=15500
2012-03-08 18:04:27 (221s elapsed) best=000000002183230d1304 height=15501
2012-03-08 18:04:36 (9s elapsed) best=000000001c205bf86f60 height=15502
2012-03-08 18:04:36 (0s elapsed) best=000000001b06eaabb549 height=15503
Every 500 blocks it stops getting anything for a few minutes and I see a lot of this in the log.
askfor block 000000001863b82e9f96 0
askfor block 00000000086e274dfcc9 0
askfor block 00000000161295ccfc22 0
askfor block 00000000036f097e8e2f 0
askfor block 0000000006f4dd953c8b 0
askfor block 00000000053d4015d9d0 0
askfor block 0000000004390f5800da 0
received block 0000000bc8debd1285bf
ProcessBlock: ORPHAN BLOCK, prev=0000000029a45c0a51f0
sending getdata: block 0000000024ab0abf1702
sending getdata: block 000000002198f2d28e62
sending getdata: block 0000000024f54d89577c
sending getdata: block 0000000010a37c65ed4b
sending getdata: block 00000000164de5d3f3a2
sending getdata: block 00000000134bb8e6b6d1
sending getdata: block 000000002497d576f7fe
