How often do they inflict these courses on you, and how much more technology would you need do get bored senseless at home instead of at the office? If the answers are "frequently" and "not really that much" I think there's a business case for making them provide you with it (possibly by leasing rather than purchasing it), you're already saving them at least one person's salary by having the work dumped on top of your existing workload.
no subject