The beginning of the story...

...after spending a few months browsing the mathematical literature in search of a project and an identity (I was going to be a Mirror Symmetrist one week, a Derived Category Algebraist the following, a Non-commutative Geometer the one after...every once in a while I even considered just opening an italian restaurant), it became evident that the whole thesis process was not exactly a gentle downward slope.

It was during the first edition of the second life of the Western Algebraic Geometry Seminar (WAGS, for short, which always gives me the fuzzy thought of happy puppies) that a young mathematician by the name of Jim Bryan gave a very inspiring talk...