Main quest: officially successful

I got a job offer from Oxford today.

I have more to write about various things (like the soliton stuff), but for now let me quote one of the professors who was in on the interview. (This is the one I met in 04 who I believe was my main supporter there, although I don't know the latter for sure.) Anyway, here is a line I want to excerpt from our phone conversation earlier today:

"What really struck the committee about you was how little you knew about Oxford."


All I can really say to that is that I can be really endearing in my naivete.


Among the lessons I learned is the following: I guess this whole strategy of witty one-liners works really well when interviewing for faculty jobs. Well, maybe not. :) (Obviously, it matters potentially a great deal that the comment right before mine was a facetious one.) Besides, Europeans really dig it when somebody from the US insults their own leaders.