We got online!

It is with great pleasure that I inform you of the smashing success of our plans get Sarah, my wife, onto the Ohio University (OU) network, and, subsequently, onto the internet. This enabled us to have a videophone session last night. We enjoyed a very lovely conversation in which Henry told her about the baseball game we went to, showed her his boo boo, and, well, pooped his pants (which Mommy was still present to see the changing ceremony).

For those not up on this latest happening, Sarah's spending the week at OU chatting with history/anthropology/archeology types, and is just about to get her $2500 check to do some research and reporting on the project of her choice in one of those fields. Pretty cool, huh?

Anyhoo, one would think that getting Sarah onto the internet on the campus of an American University would be a snap, but to say that it was difficult is an enormous overstatement. Some of the highlights:

1. At Sarah's orientation, one of her instructors made it very clear that no one was to venture on to the OU network. No way, no how.
2. I called a friend of mine, a professor at OU, to hook a brother up. He was more than happy to help, but was stuck in an airport on his way back from Ecuador. Slacker. He advised to go to a coffee shop on campus. Bingo!
3. Sarah went to the coffee shop. It closed at 9:00 PM. Her scheduled sessions end at 9:00 PM each night. She arrived at the coffee shop at 9:30 PM. Rats!
4. I enlisted the help of some OU students that I know. She found a double-secret way to hook her up. One offered up the drive-by use of the wireless connection in her apartment! (she was in Columbus, but was pretty sure the wireless was still turned on, functioning, and available from the street).
   
5. Sarah tested out the triple-secret method, and SUCCESS!
   

Luckily for her no one has perfected digital smell yet ... that diaper probably didn't look half as bad as it smelled!