Star Struck: The Lonely Life of an SE
We're a pretty lonely bunch here at Ruckus Wireless. Each of us lives vicariously through each other in the hope that anything interesting will happen. So when it does, we get all "jiggy wit' it."
Our lives consist mostly of building stuff, installing stuff and troubleshooting stuff then having meetings to talk about how to build stuff, install stuff and troubleshoot stuff. Beyond that, none of us have real lives to speak of.
This is particularly true for our Systems Engineers (SEs) who effectively live on planes - flying from one place to the next installing gear and helping would-be customers on the finer points of RF signal propagation, dynamic beamforming, wireless LAN architecture and (now) celebrity gossip.
Recently, when one of our SEs, Eric Stresen-Reuter (Stress-N-Rooter), an ex-cop in Apopka, FLA married to his cuter-than-a-button cop wife (I kid you not), came in contact with two celebrities within 7 days of each other (and in the exact same location), we were all mesmerized. You see, we don't get out too much.
In the President's Club of Continental Airlines at Newark airport, Eric met Halle Berry and Martin Short. Situated near gate 120 in Terminal C of Newark Liberty International, Continental's President's Club at Newark was recently named "Priority Pass Lounge of the Year." Go figure. The award-winning lounge covers almost 25,000 square feet and sports a premium wine bar, 57 private carrels, five shower suites, four conference rooms, and ceiling-to-floor windows offering panoramic views
Well, because Eric is an SE, he can't really form complete sentences without using acronyms or converse with normal people, let alone celebrities. He shared with me both conversations (SE's don't really fabricate things as they pride themselves in being exact). Here's how the conversations went (simply unbelievable). Halle Berry first:
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Eric: Wow. You're Halle Berry!
Halle: Wow. You're right.
Eric. Wow. What are you doing here?
Halle: Wow, traveling.
Eric: Do you know where the bathroom is?
Halle: I know where MINE is.
Eric: I really liked you in that movie WANTED.
Halle: I wasn't in that movie, that was Angelina Jolie.
Eric: Oh right. You guys look a lot alike.
Halle: Not really. I'm black. Are you OK?
Eric: I'm fine. You have cute kids.
Halle: I find you creepy.
Eric: That's OK. Listen, no one will believe that I met you...so would you take a picture with me?
Halle: I don't think I believe it. Would that make you go away?
Eric: Yes.
Halle: OK but don't touch me.
Eric: Thanks Halle.
Halle: Call me Ms. Berry.
Eric: OK. Hey one last thing. Will you autograph my access point?
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Eric: Wow. You're Martin Short.
Martin: Yes and I can make you laugh until you can't control your bowels.
Eric. You won't believe this but I met Halle Berry in this exact same spot a week ago.
Martin: You're right. I don't believe it. You know Halle and I were an item once.
Eric: Really?
Martin: No.
Eric: Oh..
Martin: So what do you do?.
Eric: I'm an SE for Ruckus Wireless.
Martin: You're what for who?
Eric: Nevermind.
Marin: OK. Let's take this picture so I can do anything else.
Eric: Great. Can you put your arm around me so it looks like we're good friends.
Martin: Sure but that's kinda creepy.
Eric: That's ok.
Martin: You know, you're kinda cute.
Eric: Really?
Martin: No.
Eric: Hey one last thing. Will you autograph my access point?
Martin: No.
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OK. So we some socially inept SE's. But boy are they dedicated and can they make your Wi-Fi network sing! You'll like 'em then.
