If the machine is already on but asleep, the keys are in memory, they only have to be downloaded from the server on first login. If the machine has been off and you have no network connection then you need the long password to unlock it instead of the short one, but for most users that is already irrelevant because everything else requires a network connection too.
Ah ok, so I'll need to memorize the super long password whenever I'm out and about and want to just check something real quick. I guess I'll just put that on the sticky note on the bottom of the computer.
