Friday, May 19, 2006
Vanity
A few years ago I quit my job as columist and features editor at a suburban Chicago newspaper to work as a freelancer and take care of my infant son. At the time, a Google search of "Paul Eisenberg" turned up my column index page as its first hit. I took pride in being the number one Paul Eisenberg on the Web. One day, I dreamed, I would be the number one Paul, wreasting that spot from a certain former Beatle.
Alas, my last regular column was published at the end of 2003, and these days, my ranking has been usurped by Paul Eisenberg, professor emeritus of philosophy at Indiana University. In fact, when interviewing author Lois Tilton last year for a preview story about the Nebula Awards in Chicago, Tilton asked me if I was Eisenberg emeritus, andI had to meekly tell her no.
Nor am I the Paul Eisenberg of Fodor's travel guides, another PE who has overtakem me in internet prominence.
I'm not Paul Eisenberg, super sleuth of collections. I'm also not the guy who posts on this site.
In fact, the first Google mention of the Paul Eisenberg that is me comes on the sixth search page - a link to the Mr. Meteor story I've also linked to on the left. I poured through 50 search pages on Google under my name, and didn't come up with this blog, and that's disconcerting. It's a reduction in Internet status that I didn't anticipate, and though it's really a very minor thing, it still stings a bit.
Are you a Paul Eisenberg who made his way to this blog via a vanity search for yourself? Sound out. Let me know you stopped by. After all, it may be a competition for number one, but it still can be a friendly competition.
Alas, my last regular column was published at the end of 2003, and these days, my ranking has been usurped by Paul Eisenberg, professor emeritus of philosophy at Indiana University. In fact, when interviewing author Lois Tilton last year for a preview story about the Nebula Awards in Chicago, Tilton asked me if I was Eisenberg emeritus, andI had to meekly tell her no.
Nor am I the Paul Eisenberg of Fodor's travel guides, another PE who has overtakem me in internet prominence.
I'm not Paul Eisenberg, super sleuth of collections. I'm also not the guy who posts on this site.
In fact, the first Google mention of the Paul Eisenberg that is me comes on the sixth search page - a link to the Mr. Meteor story I've also linked to on the left. I poured through 50 search pages on Google under my name, and didn't come up with this blog, and that's disconcerting. It's a reduction in Internet status that I didn't anticipate, and though it's really a very minor thing, it still stings a bit.
Are you a Paul Eisenberg who made his way to this blog via a vanity search for yourself? Sound out. Let me know you stopped by. After all, it may be a competition for number one, but it still can be a friendly competition.
