For some reason, my desktop gnome menu had a “Suspend” option.  It was right under the “Log out …” option in the System dropdown menu.  One day, when I meant to click on the “Log out” option, my mouse went too far and I ended up selecting this “Suspend” option.

After struggling for the next few minutes, I gave up and rebooted the machine to come out of the suspended state.

The Suspend option should not have been there to begin with.  Anyway, it was time to remove it.  Fortunately, that was as easy as typing [1]:

gconftool-2 --type boolean --set /apps/gnome-power-manager/can_suspend false

Likewise, if you want to get rid of the Hybernate option,

gconftool-2 --type boolean --set /apps/gnome-power-manager/can_hibernate false

[1] http://magazine.redhat.com/2008/05/30/tips-and-tricks-how-do-i-remove-the-suspendhibernate-entries-from-the-system-menu-in-the-gnome-panel/