I’m relatively used to seeing my name in the newspaper, but most of the time I know it’s coming (like this morning) and I know it’s going to be in a particular context.

So when my Google News RSS Feed (surely a sign of a healthy ego) showed up Virginia Haussegger’s article yesterday, I looked at opening sentence: “Daniel Bowen you are so dumped” and assumed it was about somebody else with the name.

But still, I clicked through and read it. It wasn’t about someone else, and that’s I think what surprised me the most. Unexpected and totally out of context to what I’m used to, which made it feel rather odd reading it. Like Sam Tyler in Life On Mars when the people on TV talk to him.

Obviously she’s just tried to get an interesting angle on the Census figures that have started coming out in the last few days, gone Googling for “average australian” and found me — to my surprise (and apparently hers) I’m the top hit, above the Census itself. Judging from what she wrote, it’s doubtful that she was really reading for very long.

Is it overly critical of my blog? Well, it may seem that way to people who know me, but she’s just having a little rant, and it’s aimed at me because of my choice of the word Average. But 99.99% of the people who read it wouldn’t have visited here, so I doubt they batted an eyelid.

All in all, I’m pretty amused by the whole thing.

Hey Virginia: you’re probably not my type either.

• Profile: Virginia Haussegger (ABC Canberra TV news presenter) — It’s possible that she’s presented a story I was in, but I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to her. I did speak to one of the Virginias on 774 a couple of years ago, but I think it was Trioli.

PS. Monday 9am. Marita’s response: “No, she’s wrong, you’re very average!”