You friend is dead wrong about the aeration thing. The only time you ever want to aerate your beer is after you boil and chill it, right before you pitch yeast. At all other times, avoid aeration at all costs. Especially after the growth phase of the fermentation has completed. If you make an active attempt to aerate your beer when going to secondary, you can really screw it up. Oxygen does not need to be bonding with any of the flavor compounds in your beer, as this will change them around and make some weird off-flavors.
Now as for the secondary issue, you will find that many on this board do not bother with it. The general consensus is such that if someone like yourself posts a question like this about racking to secondary, most of the people in the thread will tell you it is a waste of time to secondary.
Personally, I secondary most of my beers. My own experience has shown me that my beers come out cleaner and clearer if I secondary. The only times I have ever had significant off-flavors in my beers were the times when I left them in primary for four weeks. Two weeks in the primary has always been more than enough for the yeast to clean up after themselves, as most ale yeasts are dormant by this point anyway. I do it very cleanly and quickly, and it is worth the effort to me based on my own results. I encourage you to try it both ways and see which results you prefer.