My favourite Mickens is The Night Watch: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/people/mickens/thenightw...

"HCI people discover bugs by receiving a concerned email from their therapist. Systems people discover bugs by waking up and discovering that their first-born children are missing and “ETIMEDOUT ” has been written in blood on the wall."

and also

"I HAVE NO TOOLS BECAUSE I’VE DESTROYED MY TOOLS WITH MY TOOLS."