EVEMon flashed up a notification just before – Mining Drone Operation V completed.
I don’t generally use mining drones, but I put aside the training time just to complete the final step in being able to say I have a max’d Miner.
No particular reason for ths – it is fairly rare that I actually mine. It just seems appropriate if I am to call myself an Empire Carebear, then I should play the part.
So my Alt has Industrial Command Ships V, Capital Industrial Ships V, Warfare Link Specialist V, Mining Foreman V, Mining Director V and a Mining Foreman Mindlink – giving perfect mining boosts in either an Orca or Rorqual.
My main has Mining Frigate, Barge and Exhumer skills all to V, and now Mining Drone Operation V. He has all the mining related skills to V -Astrogeology, Mining, Gas Cloud Harvesting, Ice Harvesting and… oh crap. Deep Core Mining is only II. I won’t find Mercoxit in Empire, do I really need that? He also has the MX-1005 Mining implant to maximise yield. Oh crap again – there is the Michi’s Excavation Augmentor which he doesn’t have. Those are going for 1.57B in Jita at the moment. I am not going to spend that much on just a tiny amount of bragging rights.
Ok – I have an almost Max’d miner – he just needs Deep Core Mining V and the Michi Implant. Actually, it looks lame when you have to explain it that way – it also doesn’t have a nice ring to it. I might just admit defeat and sideline this mini-goal. If anyone asks, I’ll just say I can mine pretty good…
Evehermit 
Well done. I’d say as long as the New Order guys are still killing mining ships and pods, you should keep a less expensive head.
New Order are no where near me. Having said that – there are some Ice belts in the area, and I regularly see people with suspect / criminal flags in and around them, and others complaining about being ganked. At the moment I basically only mine in hidden belts. Not that it is safe, but it is a touch safer.
True that although I happily ice mine in normal belts. If I am watching local and pay attention, I take the Mackinaw, if I am really doing something else (dishes, laundry, felling trees, curing cancer) I use the retriever. I park it right at the very end of some ice belt and quite a few times I came back, found myself quite unharmed with a lot of Concord further down the belt….