Did you ever Google yourself? I did – and I couldn’t believe what I found.

Knowing that I have a long history of both writing and getting quoted in articles, as well as website work on both my own and other sites, I decided to go to www.google.com and enter my name – and what I found astounded me.

From articles that I have appeared in as a “Department Spokesperson” to restaurant reviews I wrote to a webpage that contained a transcript of a phone interview I once did – I never knew there was so much about me on the world wide web. In a way, I am both amazed and grateful that the things I have done still appear on websites and are considered worthy of a place on the Information Superhighway. But at the same time, I find it weird that so much of my life has been unknowingly online all this time.

Among the things I found while “Google-ing myself” was an article that ran on the Associated Press Wire on September 8, 2000 about then Governor Jesse Ventura’s book singing at the Borders Book Store in – of all places – the World Trade Center. I found the article on a newsgroup that was called, “alt.gossip.celebrities.” The article was posted there by a LandonEx in a thread that was entitled, “Jesse Ventura’s Book Creates Mob Scene.” The actual story was called, “Fans Flock To See Ventura” and contained the following text: “NEW YORK (AP) – Hundreds of fans flooded a New York bookstore where Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura was signing copies of his new book, ‘Do I Stand Alone?’ ‘He’s a great man,’ said Paul Wein, press secretary for Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who waited in line to get his copy signed. ‘In respect to the question he raises in his book, he doesn’t stand alone. I’m with him.’ Wein was among more than 300 people who crowded into Borders bookstore in the World Trade Center, where he signed about 500 copies of his second book. Several times during the signing, the governor heard shouts of ‘Jesse for president,’ a suggestion he shrugged off for the umpteenth time. ‘I don’t want the job,’ he said, adding that he was happy to be governor.” I remember that day well and remember the article appearing on the Wire and in a few papers, but I never knew that it was posted on a newsgroup and has remained there to this day.

Probably the weirdest thing I found was a thread on another newsgroup called “alt.tv.southpark” that was entitled, “How Many Episodes?” and said the following: “South Park Digest, February 8, Paul Wein says that the CC gods came to him in a dream and told him how the new season will roll out: 4 new episodes in April (5,12,19,26) 7 new episodes in the first half of summer (late June - early August) 6 new episodes from early November to mid-December. So the 17 episodes for season 4 are confirmed this way. Unless it was all a dream (Translation: these are tentative dates, subject to change). So for now, this is the working schedule.” Amazing.

As I kept hitting the “Next” button on the Google page, I found more and more pages containing my name, “Department spokesman Paul Wein said he expects the flareup to be ironed out in court. ‘It’s really out of our hands at this point,’ he said.” “By day, 28-year-old Brooklynite Paul Wein is a 5-foot-8, 160-pound employee in a serious Manhattan office.” “Paul Wein, director of public affairs at the Taxi and Limousine Commission, disagreed. ‘It really doesn’t affect cab service at all,’ he said of the customer impact of the bribery and the arrests.” All in all, I must have found at least 100 web pages with my name on them, including some that have been up for years. I never knew that things I have done so many years ago were still accessible today – and on so many different pages.

In addition to finding myself, I also found a few other Paul Weins out there. I found a musician named Paul Wein who wrote, along with Jeffrey Owen McGregor, a Gospel song called I Guess I Didn’t Take Enough. I found a Paul Wein in California who lost his father, 76-year-old Charlie Wein on February 21, 2004, according to the obituary – and I also found another Paul Wein who is not only a lawyer – but apparently has some troubles that I want no part of. On a website called, “Save The Pine Bush,” which is a group determined to save the Albany Pine Bush, a globally rare ecosystem in New York State, there was an article by a Daniel Van Riper called And It All Fits that contained the following: “Farmer Angelo and his friends engaged the services of the notorious lawyer Paul Wein, who, through various maneuvers, managed to jack up the price the Nature Conservancy paid for Michael Giavanone’s property, the proposed go-cart track. Last we heard, by the way, Paul Wein was fending off a sexual harassment suit brought by one of his former employees.” Thank God I’m not that Paul Wein.

If you get the chance, go to Google or any other search engine and enter your name – you may be surprised what you find.