Has it really been two years? Feels like last week. We’re getting old, Leaper!
Even two years ago, dongle had been a word for a long time.
Just sayin’.
I’ll bet two years ago it hadn’t gotten anyone fired, though.
Just sayin’. 
I know! My cousin had her first child while I was with my grandparents, and now the little tyke is two! (And loves her Uncle Leaper, which is cool. :))
Anyway, what I ended up doing was getting a 3G dongle from Sprint and getting a month long flat rate plan. It worked out well enough, especially since (as I said) it meant I could stay home most of the time and be their helper, and I even used it very occasionally after I got home until they ended up changing their plans and such. Then it just became more convenient to use my iPad if I really wanted to compute on the go (as nice as my Macbook Pro is, I usually don’t leave the house with it a lot; the option of taking it with me is usually more valuable than actually having it, especially with the iPad filling its function 60% of the time).