Tunneling

My university blocks IRC and AIM :(

How can i tunnel these connections? I have a computer at home on my own (comcast, unrestricted) connection. The only tunneling software i know about is VNC, but that seems to be more than i need if all i want to do is get on IRC. I know if i can get on IRC, i can use a gateway to get onto AIM, so i'm not too worried about AIM

Can i use SSH or something??? I really have no idea where to start, otherwise i would fucking google it.

http://acd.ucar.edu/~fredrick/mpark/ssh/

Run AIM through Tor.

As for IRC, what networks are you connecting to? If it's freenode, run it through Tor. For EFnet, QuakeNet, or other networks that block Tor, run them through an open proxy:

http://www.google.com/search?q=proxy+server+list

If you're interested in security, chain the open proxy onto Tor using ProxyWay or ProxyGlue or some other proxy chaining software.