Ah, another thought... I still have a WiFi USB stick laying around. I wonder if I connect it to the MacBook, if I could then setup two different wireless connections (on different subnets): one for the VPN and one for the printing. I believe it's possible with Unix to tell which network traffic should use which adapter? (in Windows this isn't possible, I know that)

Jmwking's comments above make me doubt if the VPN won't also block that option, but it's worth a try I guess. My wife's notebook is also not nearly as locked down as his wife's seem to be. I can install all I want onto it and/or use any device with it. Only the company's VPN is mandatory.

This might be worth checking out, but I won't be able to until I home tomorrow. I'll keep you updated.