There's some ebb & flow to my work load..

I would say I'm in an ebb phase at present.  My friend Roxanne says to play the eager beaver and pop into my boss's office asking for stuff to do.  I feel like that is the exact WRONG thing to do.  And I'm not just saying that because it totally goes against everything I am either (though it does).  I feel like, if you're in an ebb phase, and you have a boss that is less than vigilant (and are CONFIDENT in your assessment of The Man) then the proper course of action is to take what dribs and drabs of work come your way and dra-a-a-a-w them out to last the whole day.  Look  industrious.  If you repeatedly alert your boss to the fact that you don't have enough work to do, then they might start thinking they could absorb your role into another role and  you are quite possibly out of a job.

I also find my own valid,  nitpicky jobs to busy myself with. For instance, today  I read our online safety manual and I found all the grammar and spelling errors therein.  Of course, I did not print this manual out, mark these errors (and there were tons) down, or call this to anyone's attention. This way I can do this job again during future lull times.  The important thing is if my boss comes galumphing around the corner without my knowing...well, I'm reading the agency safety manual.  How can the harpy object??

Below you see the end result of two days of surreptitious doodling..