[CentOS] New user and stupid issue

Hi All,

I am a new Centos user (old Red Hat and Debian user) and I'm having a 
very strange problem.  I just installed Centos V4 and it appears to be 
running fine except for a weird issue.  If I am on the systems console, 
I can write all kinds of files anywhere I choose.  But if  I am ssh'd in 
to the box it appears I can not write any files on the file systems.  
Since this box is across town, it makes it difficult to go to the 
console to make changes.  Any guidance would be great.

Thanks,
Sean