Michelle made a good point in an email. I'd overlooked the value of collaboration at a distance, because I really take it for granted now. I've been working with folks over the 'net for years, but much more intensely over the past year.
The Learning Object Syndication with RSS presentation(s) (here and here) wouldn't have been possible without iChatAV, wikis, and weblogs.
And the Pachyderm install would have cost a few orders of magnitude more without these tools (well, we really only used iChatAV/Trillian). The cost of travel between Calgary and California would have been waaaay too high, since it would have meant a few trips to get it running.