where i used to work, we had a whiteboard which eventually became covered with a numbered list on comments about making it through the day. (don’t stress too much about the numbering. we didn’t!)

Marinate in Failure!

1. thwart.
2. YAY!
3. Rah!
4. Whee.
5. Feh.
6. Grumble
7. Grumble
8. Grumble
9. Grumble
10. Grumble
11. Grumble grumble
12. Fuck
13. thwart.
14. Fail
15. Make listhost not suck
16. Atone
17. secede from the state
18. Fix it. it sucks.
19. Whinge.
20. Elide whinging.
21. Kvetch
22. FIX IT.
23. Whinge.
24. Surrender.
2019. despair.
2120. we have always been at war with Eastasia.
2221. thwart
23. thwart.
24. weep
25. obstruct!
26. kvetch
27. Ride ’em, cowboy!
28. commit ritual suicide with alcohol
29. celebrate a success to only later realize it was actually a failure that was just lying to you.
30. Backtrack
31. YAY!
32. fail.
33. trouble deaf heaven with bootless cries
34. fall down
35. go boom
36. quote old country songs or Tom Waits, as appropriate
37. Place blame
38. do favors for whoever is complaining
39. Marinate in failure.
40. …and grow tender with flavor!
41. Eventually, fall apart.
42. And mildew.
43. Enumerate
44. Branch
45. Hire more management
46. Scowl.
47. Weep.
47b. sniffle.
48. co-opt
49. bi�re!
50. be resigned.
19. Shit! I forgot what I was going to write!
20. DOCUMENT
21. Flee
22. Come dragging on back
23. Commit ritual suicide w/alcohol
24. Work on someone else’s suck-ass project to avoid your own. Fix it. Yours are all still fuck.
20a. wait
20b. !
20c. wait
21. feh.
22. trifurcate.
23. Comply!
34. dammit.
25. zzz
26. lie
27. Don’t interfere with registration, o-week, finals, midterms, reading period, any time in between, or when the students are gone.
54. bemoan your fate.
55. limit your career options.
56. walk out.
57. come crawling back.
FOAD CPAN!

the reason the numbering is so wacky is that the whiteboard was actually leaning against a wall, sticking out of a box of junk, and when it would shift, we would just shift along with it. this was the work of many months. i don’t know if it’s more a product of the environment, or a product of what the environment did to us specifically.

this is your sysadmin team. this is your sysadmin team on drugs. any questions?