[tlug] Why won't this process die?

[Dave M G <martin@example.com>]

TLUG,

Sometimes when I start VMWare Player, it hangs and won't fully start. I 
can close the window, but then I can't start it again.
The reason I can't start it again is because there is a process called 
"vmware-vmx" which is marked as "uninteruptable"  in my Gnome system 
monitor.
I need it to stop, or die, or go away somehow before I can restart 
VMWare Player.
I've tried:

dave@example.com:~$ sudo kill 11906
dave@example.com:~$ sudo killall vmware-vmx

And also right-clicking in the System Monitor interface and selecting 
"kill process" and "stop process". But nothing will make it go away.
The only way I know for sure to get rid of it is to reboot. But that 
kind of annoys me as it makes me feel like this application somehow has 
more authority than me.
Since Linux is all about permissions, and I'm the root user, (or super 
user, or administrator, or whatever you want to call it) how is it that 
this process manages to gain enough clout that it can refuse me killing it?
And... how do I kill it?

Thank you for your advice.

--
Dave M G