Hello trufooser,
How about trying with SQL Server. There are lots of material on MSDN and many Howto's on this site which will be helpful.
Please read the links below.
http://www.infopathdev.com/howto/tutorials/default.aspx?i=d2e829ea745e4679b55e24b12017e092
http://www.qdabra.com/proddetail.asp?prod=QDBXL1
http://www.databasejournal.com/features/mssql/article.php/10894_3070881_3
I hope these will help you.
GoodLuck
Kalyan G Reddy
Infopath MVP 2007 and 2008