diff --git a/examples/NLDAS_Data_Exploration.ipynb b/examples/NLDAS_Data_Exploration.ipynb
index 56a143b..db762d4 100644
--- a/examples/NLDAS_Data_Exploration.ipynb
+++ b/examples/NLDAS_Data_Exploration.ipynb
@@ -11,7 +11,17 @@
     "- Downloads data file(s) from NASA\n",
     "- Show attribute statistics and visualizations\n",
     "- Do viz-related data cleaning\n",
-    "- Show (corrected) attribute statistics and visualizations"
+    "- Show (corrected) attribute statistics and visualizations\n",
+    "\n",
+    "### Setup Instructions:\n",
+    "1. Create *.netrc* file in home dir according to [GES DISC site instructions](https://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/information/howto?title=How%20to%20Download%20Data%20Files%20from%20HTTP%20Service%20with%20wget)\n",
+    "2. Create environment, install notebook pkgs, enable extension:\n",
+    "```\n",
+    "conda env create -n elm python=2.7 # 2.7 needed for pynio\n",
+    "source activate elm\n",
+    "conda install -c conda-forge pycurl lxml holoviews\n",
+    "jupyter nbextension enable --py widgetsnbextension # This should report \"OK\"\n",
+    "```"
    ]
   },
   {
@@ -179,9 +189,7 @@
   {
    "cell_type": "code",
    "execution_count": null,
-   "metadata": {
-    "collapsed": true
-   },
+   "metadata": {},
    "outputs": [],
    "source": []
   }
@@ -202,7 +210,7 @@
    "name": "python",
    "nbconvert_exporter": "python",
    "pygments_lexer": "ipython2",
-   "version": "2.7.13"
+   "version": "2.7.14"
   }
  },
  "nbformat": 4,
diff --git a/examples/example_utils.py b/examples/example_utils.py
index a4be88b..8a357bd 100644
--- a/examples/example_utils.py
+++ b/examples/example_utils.py
@@ -12,38 +12,54 @@
 
 import requests
 from six.moves.urllib.parse import urlparse
-from six.moves import range
+from six.moves import range, input
 from lxml import etree, html
 from ipywidgets import widgets, Layout
 from IPython.display import display, Javascript
-from pydap.cas.urs import setup_session
 
 
-session = setup_session(
-    os.environ.get('NLDAS_USERNAME') or raw_input('NLDAS Username: '),
-    os.environ.get('NLDAS_PASSWORD') or getpass.getpass('Password: ')
-)
-
-def get_request(url):
-    import pycurl
-    from io import BytesIO
-    buffer = BytesIO()
-    c = pycurl.Curl()
-    c.setopt(c.URL, url)
-    c.setopt(c.WRITEDATA, buffer)
-    c.perform()
-    c.close()
-    return buffer.getvalue()
+PYCURL = True
+
+if not PYCURL:
+    from pydap.cas.urs import setup_session
+    session = setup_session(
+        os.environ.get('NLDAS_USERNAME') or input('NLDAS Username: '),
+        os.environ.get('NLDAS_PASSWORD') or getpass.getpass('Password: ')
+    )
+
+def get_request(url, outfpath=None):
+    global PYCURL
+    if PYCURL:
+        # outfpath must be set
+        import pycurl
+        from io import BytesIO
+        buffer = BytesIO()
+        c = pycurl.Curl()
+        c.setopt(c.URL, url)
+        c.setopt(c.WRITEDATA, buffer)
+        c.setopt(c.COOKIEJAR, '/tmp/cookie.jar')
+        c.setopt(c.NETRC, True)
+        c.setopt(c.FOLLOWLOCATION, True)
+        #c.setopt(c.REMOTE_NAME, outfpath)
+        c.perform()
+        c.close()
+        return buffer.getvalue()
+    resp = requests.get(url)
+    return resp.text
 
 def dl_file(url):
     data_fpath = urlparse(url).path.lstrip(os.sep)
     data_dpath = os.path.dirname(data_fpath)
     if not os.path.exists(data_fpath):
-        resp = session.get(url)
         if not os.path.isdir(data_dpath):
             os.makedirs(data_dpath)
-        with open(data_fpath, 'w') as outfp:
-            outfp.write(resp.content)
+        if PYCURL:
+            with open(data_fpath, 'w') as outfp:
+                outfp.write(get_request(url))
+        else:
+            resp = session.get(url)
+            with open(data_fpath, 'w') as outfp:
+                outfp.write(resp.content)
     return data_fpath
 
 def dups_to_indexes(field_names):