Mailing the story:

As a sysadmin, I wear many hats. Some days I'm the janitor--I clean up discarded files on the file server and clear spam from the mail server. Other days I'm the maintenance man--I make sure all the servers are running smoothly and that any holes have been patched. Some days I'm the architect--I plan, organize, and design systems to suit our needs. Some of my favorite days, however, are the days I put on my rescue hat. When a machine is in trouble, the whistle sounds, I grab my rescue gear, and I run down the beach with my life preserver. OK, well, I made that last part up; I'm not David Hasselhoff and this isn't Baywatch, but when it comes to system recovery, I choose the other thing Germans love--Knoppix.