Heroes: Aaron Rudkin

Sucks that one of NBC's popular television programs decided to steal the title for this particular section of CS. Ah well, if we inspire, we inspire. What can ya do.

I had two best men at my wedding. One was Jason Emery, who needs no further introduction. The other was the ultra cool guy pictured here: Aaron Rudkin.

Aaron lived on the same street as I did in Annapolis, Maryland. His family moved here and there but are now all settled in San Diego. Lucky for me, I'm not that far away. I was able to be a groomsman at his wedding and the photo is the rehearsal. Not more than six months ago he was hitched to the lovely Kaitlyn Chau. I couldn't be happier for him.

Enough of the boring background. This guy is about the best IT professional I've met, and it isn't because he knows the latest RFID and server tech (although hell, he just might). It's because he instilled a philosophy of customer service many of us would do well to emulate. On the phone one day he explained "the guy had a problem I couldn't solve, but I told him to hang on while I found someone who could solve it." He didn't just give up. He was tenacious. I've heard stories of IT group directors who might as well be shift managers at McDonalds in terms of their actual managerial and people "skills", and his infamous joke, walking into work early one morning saying "Oh man, am I feeling scuzzy... and I'm NOT talking about the Adaptec!" At which the entire staff bursts into screaming fits of laughter.

Aaron also has a sense of humor second to none, and an uncanny knack for analyzing film and TV, extracting funny things hidden in the script or plot. Time to quote him, and write the first genuinely funny thing in CS history:

In Superman II there is a scene where Lex Luthor is attempting to join forces with General Zod, Non, and Ursa; the Krypton criminals, to fight Superman. Luthor explains: "he is... just one. Where you are... three!" Non then lets out an irritated low growl, to which Luthor nervously responds "Or four if you count him twice."

There are two possible reasons for Non's primitive interjection. One, Nom, under any circumstances, does not like being referred to as only one person. Two, the growl was completely random, which makes even less sense than the first reason. So why the growl?

I have to admit the first time I read that I couldn't stop laughing. Go see the movie and, sure enough, the big lug growls, and you can't help but wonder what kind of crack the script writer was smoking when they put that one in.

Aaron and I used to spend time at many a bar in Annapolis talking of life, culture, women (of course) and sheer insanity. We played Doom 2 deathmatch and his prowess was only matched by a dozen or so. In fact, he wiped the floor with poor John Romero in a Doom 2 deathmatch at his bachelor party (thanks again to Romero for obliging, I still owe him a case of champagne). If anything John had Aaron beat for smacktalk that night. John was on speakerphone with us during the match and after being killed a little too quickly after a respawn, he burst out "Fuck that lucky ass bullshit shot!" Awesome.

We also quote Red Dwarf and Black Adder constantly along with some other favorite films:

Deep Cover
Deathtrap
Commando
The Fugitive
Cracking Up
Spinal Tap
Basic Instinct
The Punisher (yes, the Dolph Lundgren version)
Iron Eagle

I could honestly go on forever, but time is short, and his charm can best be communicated through an interview, which will be provided in a post coming soon to an MP3 player near you.

To sum up, they just don't make them like this anymore, and I'm glad through life's tribulations that we are still keeping in touch and enjoying (however rarely) the occaisional cigar.