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Howdy! I’m Ruben Arakelyan and this is my home on the intertubes - a place of constant experimentation and breakage.
I started this all off a very long time ago (as far back as I can remember, actually) when I got my first computer, and later, my first dialup connection to the mighty information superhighway! I experimented with computers and the Internet, learning by breaking and fixing things and looking at how others did cool things. In 2003, using my newly acquired top-up debit card, I purchased my first domain name and website hosting and unleashed my work on the world.
As the years have gone by and technology has evolved, this site has gone through many iterations as I have learnt new ways of doing things and tried them out, firstly under the guise of my online nickname wackomenace, and now here. In that time, I have run numerous blogs but have never been able to keep up, so I have decided to cut my losses and try my hand at an old-school static website instead.
As always, I have filled this site with stuff from my own work and experimentation. Since it’s the way I learnt (and continue to learn) how to do these things, everything here is open for you to take, use, change, break and develop as you wish. Do whatever you will with it. All I ask for is a small link back here so others can do the same.
Want to ask me or tell me something? Don’t be shy - drop me a line and let’s have a conversation!
Enjoy!
About me
I was born in lively and vibrant Wimbledon and went to nursery there before moving to North London to go to primary and secondary school. From an early age, I always had an interest in computing and pursued this at sixth form, where I chose my three favourite subjects which I have the most interest in: Computing, Business and Politics. I then chose computing as my primary interest at university, for which I moved to Reading.
Right now, I’m working for Microsoft as an MTC Engineer on my industrial year. The MTC, or Microsoft Technology Centre, is where clients come to work on custom software projects. My job is to prepare, maintain and support the datacentre server infrastructure for the clients, as well as take care of the Envisioning Centre, where clients present demonstrations of their products. It is sometimes challenging and sometimes tiring, but always enjoyable and rewarding, especially if the clients are appreciative!
As well as my usual work, I love volunteering. To date, I have volunteered as Assistant Head of IT at Junction11, Reading University Students’ Union’s student-run radio station and Education Representative for the Faculty of Science.
Right now, I’m accredited as an Electoral Observer in the UK and am also a CEOP-certified Internet Safety Trainer, delivering the ThinkUKnow programme to young people in schools.
Likes and dislikes
The last 10 songs I’ve listened to are:
http://www.rubenarakelyan.com/wp-content/themes/twentyfour
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Warning: include_once() [function.include]: Failed opening ‘/helper/lastfm.php’ for inclusion (include_path=’.:/usr/share/php:/usr/share/pear’) in /var/www/rubenarakelyan.com/html/wp-content/plugins/phpexec.php(61) : eval()’d code on line 1
I love reading books and my favourites are the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz, anything by Danny Wallace (yes, I’m a RAoKing joinee!) and just plain funny ones like Urban Dictionary and Mo’ Urban Dictionary.
My favourite colour is black (yeah, figure that one out!) followed by dark red, as you can probably tell by the colour scheme here. No, I’m not a goth or emo.
Portfolio
As well as websites, I also create web tools and scripts, mostly fruits of my neverending labour to automate repetitive tasks as much as possible or to create easier ways of doing things. You can see where I am so far at wackomenace tools.
If you’re looking for something that used to be on wackomenace, then try the repository where I have stashed a load of old stuff from the site that doesn’t really fit in here any more.
I also like taking photos of people and events. Sometimes they’re good, other times they’re bad.
Contact me
I used to publish quite a lot of contact information around the web but then I thought better of it and am now in the process of removing as much of it as possible, although I’m well aware that once something’s published on the Internet, removing it completely is nigh on impossible. Believe me, I still get the occasional odd text message, Skype conversation request or Messenger contact request, as well as a metric tonne of spam email.