PabUK.com

 v5.1.1 ... Web home of Paul Wolfenden
"Banks and banks of humming machinery. I´ve never seen so many knobs." - Bang On!, Propellerheads

Ah, the obligatory 'about me' page. Where would the personal website be without it? Better off? Maybe, but then you don't have to read on.

Me

My name, as one may gather from every page of this website, is Paul Wolfenden. I'm 29 years old and live in the UK with my wife Donna.

History, Abridged

A quick history of my life thus far: I was born and lived in Stockport until I was 10. I then moved with my parents to Portugal where I attended The International School of the Algarve until I was 16. Upon completing my IGCSEs I moved back to the UK, taking A Levels at Exeter College. It was at college that I met my wife-to-be and we were engaged one year later. After the A Levels we moved to Manchester together to study I.T. at Manchester Metropolitan University. Once we had completed our degrees we moved back to Exeter and that's where we have been since. In December 2004 Donna and I finally got married, after precisely 7 years together.

Interests

Computers, gadgets, photography and, well, not much else really. Computers cover a huge variety of applications though so that's my excuse! There are other things, like music and movies for instance but I can't imagine anyone not having an interest in those.

Computers: This interest obsession started when I was given a Sinclair ZX Spectrum +2 as a child. A brilliant little computer, it used cassette tapes for data storage and was easily programmable with its BASIC language. From there the hobby just grew and grew, eventually passing through a Commodore Amiga phase before finally landing on PCs in 1995. Since then I've done a bit of everything from programming through graphic design to running websites. The world of computers continues to fascinate me on a daily basis.

Gadgets: I love them all. Amongst my personal favourites are my digital camera, digital camcorder, mobile phone and PDA. There is an obvious link to computers here - all these things are computerised in some way or another. Not all my gadgets are though. My most used ones are simpler things like my electric razor and electric toothbrush. Me stranded on a desert island? Dead.

Photography: Though I had always been passively fascinated by photography, it wasn't until handling an SLR for the first time when I was 15 that I decided to pursue it. I've been hooked ever since, progressing through 35mm SLRs before combining computers, gadgets and photography with the advent of digital cameras. My interest in photography is largely technical now. I prefer the equipment, the settings and the way it all works to the artistic side. Which is a shame because the latter is far more important when taking photographs.

The Name

What's in a name? I dunno, that's just one of those sayings. I do however know what's in my nickname.

It started at school in Portugal when I was about 11. For reasons unknown to me a friend started to call me Pablo. This soon progressed to Pablo De Neige, abbreviated as Pablo DN. Again, I haven't the faintest idea why. The Pablo part stuck anyway and was quickly shortened down to Pab for the most part.

With the advent of multiplayer gaming and the internet I soon had need to make my name more unique so I became PsyPab for these purposes. This obviously being short for Psycho Pablo. That name stuck for quite a few years. The precursor to this site was located at psypab.co.uk.

By summer 2001 I had become sick of the name PsyPab. However when you've stuck with the same name for years and used it online as much as I had it's not easy to come up with a suitable replacement. I pored over the matter for a few months and then while on holiday in Portugal I was unexpectedly handed my new online identity by a news report on TV. It was about the tropical typhoon 'Pabuk'. Hmm, "Pabuk... PabUK!" I thought, perfect!

So there we have it. This domain was registered shortly thereafter and I've stuck with the name since. I remain just 'Pab' in real life and on my web community but out in the wider internet 'PabUK' is my more unique identity.

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© 2001-2010 Paul Wolfenden.  Page source last updated 2009-09-24.
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