After last week's rather somber blog entry, I was in dire need of a shot of mirth to boost my endorphins, not to mention my productivity.

My usual antidote to days that turn blue is to listen to the Daily Giz Whiz, a funny podcast about tech gadgets. It's how I learned about the Clocky, an alarm clock on wheels that jumps off the table squawking at your wake up time, forcing you to chase it down the hall to shut it off. Owning the Clocky means never having to ask, "Are you up yet?"

It was fortunate last week, just when I had run out of new Giz Whizzes to plug into my ear, that the ThinkGeek.com catalog arrived in the mail. I frequent the Web site on the pretense that I need to shop for co-workers, but the catalog is much better. You get the full experience thumbing through its pages, filled as they are with screaming monkey slingshots, wi-fi detector T-shirts, 20-sided fuzzy dice, USB rocket launchers and the like.

I'm seriously considering the $22.99 marshmallow shooter because there are several people I really, really need to take out with peeps. The Airzooka also caught my eye, until I read the blasts of air it shoots are harmless.

For those who wonder what all of this has to do with productivity, I direct you to allegedly valid studies that suggest workplace humor increases output and creativity.

Laughing 'til you get the hiccups may not boost widget sales, but it feels a lot better than throwing yourself under a bus. Plus, if you do the latter, the e-mail tends to stack up.

So, what's your sure-fire way of pulling yourself out of the doldrums, and do you work better as a result? Do share.