A sysadmin worries about spam, viruses, spyware, but also power outages, fires and floods, the site says. When the e-mail server goes down at 2 a.m. on a Sunday, your sysadmin is paged, wakes up, and goes to work.

"Systems administrators are the unsung heroes of the 21st century, our tireless morlocks who keep the entire universe running," tech blogger Cory Doctorow writes on BoingBoing. "They understand that they’re keeping the infrastructure of the information age alive and functional."

So if you haven’t already done so, give your sysadmin a pat on the back… after he/she stops berating you for not being able to fix the paper jam yourself. And if you're really feeling generous, click here for gift ideas.