Ask HN: What to do about a boring job ?

I am stuck in a job which I don't find very interesting (but I cannot switch).

I am working on a side project (about an hour a day) but still need to spend the whole day at the job.

Any advice on how to deal with it during the day ? Anybody been in that situation before ?

EDIT 1: The workload isn't much and even though I try to read up on the news and stay current, I still have to be at the workplace for 8 hours to keep up appearances.

EDIT 2: I am a software engineer. I cannot switch because of personal reasons (which will probably change next year allowing me to explore a little more). The other reason is I am not learning anything new. It's all stuff I have worked on before (at a much larger scale in a startup): the management team here thinks they are doing something that'll change the world but it's more because of their inexperience than anything else.

I do have my side-project which provides an outlet but it doesn't discount the fact that I spend 9 hours a day at something that doesn't get me anywhere.

EDIT 3: I did some HN searching and I find myself in a similar situation as :

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1246200

I worked for an awesome team a couple of years ago on a great product. I was just out of school and it was a huge project which I thoroughly enjoyed, being the major player. Now I am working in a more crony-based organization where the things we are doing are way behind what I worked on before.

I was expecting progress, instead I find my judgement being overruled by less experienced people who haven't shipped any products. Anyhow, thanks for all the advice. I guess it's all about making lemonade out of lemons.