* * *
Ever since I've worked in this office, the fax machine has made moaning noises reminiscent of a wookie in labour. Today, though, the real meaning of those noises became hideously apparent as the air-conditioning added its voice to the chorus, with a noise somewhere between a snore, a grunt, and a ruler being twanged over the edge of a desk. "Grunt - ouhhhh. Grunt - ouhhhh." It's just like living in shared student accommodation.
* * *
And finally...
nou has introduced me to the category game, which is an even better office fiddle-object than those little magnetic whatnots that keep the money rolling in for IWOOT and their ilk -- if, of course, you'd rather play with neat javascript implementations of experimental cognitive semantics than overpriced grown-up versions of construct-o-straws. If this (the linguistics, not the plastic) is an area that interests you, I can recommend Lakoff's superbly-named and eminently readable book Women, Fire and Dangerous Things. Oh, and Amazon get one out of three for product placement. 
