Due to my access to certain accounting functions within the whole system, I was required to change my password at frequent intervals. I created a "safe" password with the stuff you have listed, and a four digit number in the middle of it. At each password change I simply changed the number by 11. Less memorization that way, and I had the number only taped in a desk drawer. Not as safe as a completely random change each time, but with my memory (or lack thereof) it was certainly safer than having my complete password written somewhere accessible.
The random letters were the first initials of my mother and her seven siblings. Can't get much more random than that.