Forbidden

Today I bought my Mini MacBook Pro with me to the office. Or rather, I smuggled it inside the company premises inside a nondescript envelope and thankfully the security guard at the door didn't suspect anything. FYI, we're not allowed to bring in laptops and DSLR cameras. For other gadget necessities like cellphones and iPods, we get a gatepass for them every start of the year.


I was meaning to do some testing for Kappy but as it turned out, it wasn't meant to be. You see I applied for a scholarship and got accepted. That was in June. The virtual classes was supposed to have started way back in October but I only got my login details the other day. Turns out the French embassy hasn't paid Sorbonne the remaining 50% of my tuition fee.

It's a distance learning program from the Université de Paris 3 - Sorbonne Nouvel. Before they let me take my masters from their institution, my Philippine diploma just won't suffice, so they're making me complete 1 year of what they call DU ECDF Diplôme Universitaire Enseignement Complémentaire de Didactique de Français (langue étrangère et seconde). That's why I have 4 subjects online and 4 consequent home assignments - guess what, papers! - all to be submitted by January 4, 2011. Interesting how everything are "4".

And that's why I'm up to my ears with .pdf's to read. It's weird that though this online/distance learning thing seems hi-tech, Sorbonne Nouvelle's is pretty much still jurassic - I was expecting at least mp3 of class lectures like in iTunes U. Man, that's not really encouraging. I guess I'll have to read aloud all those readings and record them for transferring to my iPod, since I've become interested in techie stuff, my learning strategies have changed too - I want all senses engaged as much as possible - audio and visuals have become more important to me than ever.

I've time to write this post since I've just finished reading up on my MA class - the local one from UP Diliman. Add this to my DU ECDF stuff, I've got 5 subjects to study for.

I'm gonna miss hackintoshing actively. But I'll surely be involved still and hopefully still be able to update My MacBook Mini and Saving For A Mac.

What's interesting to note though is that mirroring works flawlessly on the HP Mini 311. Another thing that surprised me is that, with my workstation's Samsung LCD monitor hooked up to it, I just closed the lid and the machine didn't go to sleep and I'm able to continue working.

Is this how real MacBooks work?

P.S. I've got officemates who bring their iPads and they go in and out the door, almost waving that Apple tablet in the fact of that nuisance of a guard and it's apparently OK. The iPad is not a netbook according to company policy. Of course it is not a netbook. And yet it's supposed to be Apple's answer for a netbook (aside from the MacBook Air) and eat away at netbook sales....