"What goes up must come down. Ask any system administrator.”

(anonymous)

Ain't that the truth. Ever have one of those days where things start out okay, quickly go sideways, straighten themselves back out, then take another turn for the worse? Even days like today, ones where none of the problems I had to manage was what I would call “a big deal,” can wear on the nerves... Kind of a when-it-rains-it-pours thing I suppose. One thing's for sure: The level of complexity in troubleshooting sideways systems is exponentially related to the complexity of the system itself. I spent a few harrowing hours fighting a Blackberry server today that was doing nothing short of driving me crazy. I ended up rebuilding the app server, after doing some serious registry hacking, but all was recovered and well in the end. At times, when I see the level of st00pididity that goes into designing certain systems, I can't do much more than shake my head in utter disbelief, noting that somewhere along the way my disbelief was replaced with the occasional cynical disgust.

I don't like feeling that way. People will laugh when they read this, but I am actually not a cynic at heart, and I don't like acting or feeling that way. It's part of why I left my job in law enforcement a few years back and went on to other things (of course the paycheck helped in that decision, too). Today was just one of those days when I found myself frustrated, then content, then cynical, then calm and cool, then just ready to give up, and finally something I can only describe as triumphant.

I guess it's just one of those days when you're the passenger (or the kid on the hood of the car, as the case may be), someone else is barreling down the road, and all you can do is hold on tight and scream at the top of your lungs (metaphorically of course) and hope someone hears you and stops.

Of course, it's also days like that that make the good days look better.