I had a similar experience sans commute with a helpdesk. I also credit that gig as being a good learning experience and eventually getting me interested in web development. I couldn't find a web development job though, so I did freelancing instead. The nice thing about development is that you don't have to wait around for something to come to you, instead, make things happen yourself. Work on getting freelance gigs, in the downtime, work on an open source project or work on your sales tools (portfolio, web site, connectivity via social networks, reputation management, etc.)