How to program Arduino Mini Pro 3.3volt

I have never programmed an Arduino before and probably ended up buying the wrong board since it has no USB programming option.
Next issue is I have no RS232 port on my PC.

I do have a USB/serial converter though.

So what I can gather is I need to power the board. I alos connect the Rx and Tx pins of the board to Transmit data and Receive data ( Tx and Rx) pins of the RS232 as shown here...
Connecting the signal ground to the Arduinos ground also seems like a good idea.

Is that it?

Look at http://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardMini

I already did.

It shows other ways to program it using another Arduino or a separate board or cable. But it does not discuss using a USB- serial converter or a serial PC output.

You need FTDI breakout board or FTDI cable. You can not program Arduino mini with USB-Serial converter. USB-Serial converter converts the USB signals to RS232 signals not to TTL. If you want to use USB-Serial converter, you need a RS232 chip to convert the RS232 signals to TTL.

You pretty much need one of these
http://store.yahoo.com/yhst-27389313707334/arliandpropr.html
available from many places

CrossRoads:
You pretty much need one of these
http://store.yahoo.com/yhst-27389313707334/arliandpropr.html
available from many places

Thanks for the link. They seem pretty cheap there compared to what I paid for my gear. As it is I brought the cable version of that last night and cost me $28nz ( +-$24us)
I guess I was just hoping there was a easy/quick/cheap way to do it.

Funny thing is a stumbled across a page that showed what I presume to be a RS232-TTL adaptor that only uses a fer resistors transistors and diodes.
It looked very similar to a DIY data cable I made to download data from a Suunto dive computer vis RS232. Chances are that may work....but I am waiting for my cable in the mail all the same.

The Arduino Serial did just that as well.
http://webzone.k3.mah.se/k3dacu/arduino/releases/serial_v2/arduino_rs232_v2.png