A learning sprint I should do sometime: sitting down and figuring out what it is about what settings in what stage of an internet connection that allows - or does not allow - VPN connections to go through. Is it a particular port that needs to be open, or... what is it?
In other news, the AP at my aunt's house appears to change its mind about VPN at seemingly random intervals. It worked last night. And then it didn't. And then it worked this morning. And then it didn't. And then it continued not to work tonight. So never mind the inbox shoveling I was planning to do tonight; I'll just drive to the office earlier tomorrow morning.
In other other news, I've decided that a slicehost slice (so I can ssh into a whole bunch of useful things and have stuff like an IRC proxy, offlineimap, etc. working at all times) takes priority on the "presents for myself" list than a travel fretless electric bass + pocket amp. Saving up...