While waiting for posts to complete, or searches to return, this morning I’ve been:
Now that I’ve run out of those, I’ll just have to log off until evening. 
Write code at work 
I read my philosophy book. It actually works out rather nicely - I can’t take more than three paragraphs of philosophy at one time, and my rewards is always “see what is on the screen.”
of course, reading three paragraphs every half hour is not an effective way to study, but still - i stand by my system.
lay back, take a deep breath and listen to some jimmy buffet
I sometimes think I could conceive, gestate, deliver and raise a child to adulthood in the time it takes some sites to load (hell, I could gestate a baby elephant in the time it takes anything going through AOL).
So of course what I actually do is open other browser windows and surf sites I know offer instant gratification and consume my already stretched system resources on chat programmes like ICQ and IRC.
It mightn’t be logical, but it least it feels like I’m accomplishing something while I wait.
Now if I could just work out how to fill the time it takes for my hard drive to defrag.
Remove frozen waffle from freezer. Place in toaster. Heat.
Cover with margarine and syrup. Consume. Repeat as needed.
Go to store when waffle supply exhausted. Return home. Check computer (wash syrupy hands first). Lay down when sudden tummy ache occurs. Nap.
I will sometimes play guitar, get food, check what’s on TV, or use the opportunity to pop in a new CD.
But usually I curse. A lot.
I play solitaire.
Mostly I read (working on The Good Earth today), but so far I like beckwall’s solution best. I’m picking up some waffles tomorrow!
While waiting for the straight dope to load, usually I browse a few other sites, take care of the kids, eat, fire up napster and check to see if there any songs left on it, or just read a book.
Study. I can usual get at least a paragraph or two written or a couple of pages read before the boards load.
Many things happen while trying to access the SDMB during the day:
[list]
[li]Catch up on the other message boards I go to[/li][li]Get up, take a pee, pet the cat, sit down and hope the page has loaded[/li][li]Catch up on email[/li][li]Watch my soap operas…like a tennis match looking to see if the screen has updated[/li][li]Devise ways that the SDMB could quicken it’s speed, but it’s for not[/li][li]Wish I had the same problem on my own message board because too many people are there…er on second thought I just wish more would visit[/li][/list}
I mentally plot the rant that I would like to post in the pit about the slow donwload times. Sometimes I read theonion.com or bushoncrack.com .
I have to blink, not ONCE… but TWICE!!
damn cable…
Well, I’ve got a high-speed connection, so pretty much everything loads super-fast…except for the boards during the day. It usually doesn’t take too long, so I’ll:[ul]
[li] check my e-mail[/li][li] same as reprise; open another window & check out other sites[/li][li] listen to some music[/li][li] play some music on my bass[/li][/ul]
Play on my Game Boy. Almost finished replaying Dragon Warrior (1).
Okay, so maybe it isn’t studying philosophy. But it’s fun!
Feed hungry kids.
Dress for work.
Perform exorcism rites on my hair.
Play solitaire.
Smoke.
Email friends.
Check to see if the page has loaded yet…
Usually I open another window and visit a site that I know will load quickly. Sometimes I play Solitaire or Minesweeper.
The computer at my parents’ house used to take forever to load pages. At one point it took almost an hour just to connect to the Internet. Same thing for loading new pages. My mom says she used to type in a website addy and then go bake muffins while she waited for the page to load.
I only have acces to the internaet at work, so I’m usually doing something job-related (honest!) and flipping to my web browser every so often.
When the SDMB is really busy during the day, I don’t even bother with it. My connection times out just about every time. It sucks, but it’s good incentive to get my work done.
At work, I have two computers, so while I was waiting for this screen to load, I was editting an image in PhotoShop. Other options for this morning included:
[ul]check voice mail
open window (a physical one, not an Internet browser one :))
eat corn pops
scratch my foot
change my CD
lose/find my glasses
play a game (tetris or mancala) on the other screen
answer ICQ messages[/ul]
I also feel the need to admit that my stomach actually growled while reading beckwall’s post…