Your not going to get BtS anytime soon Mat? If not, I would say start the download prior to going to bed, it should be finished by the time you wake up, then burn it to CD to put on whatever computer you want. Or make a small peer to peer network to transfer. If you don't have a hub, it's actually a pretty neat process to make a crossover cable. At least the first one or two, then it can get tedious.
I've played several (about 12 of them so far...) of my PBEM games pre-patch & post-patch with no problems. If you have the turn, there shouldnt be any problem playing your turn before patching & sending it off to someone who already has patched.
If you have any problems loading or with any errors as a result of patching to the new versions, just give a holler here & we'll try to help. Good luck!
Updated and patched but not playable due to some .dll error.