>>Peter,
>>
>>If I were in your shoes I'd take every opportunity I have to let people know that I have a Ph.D.
>>I don't know if this is a north american thing but over here people reacts strongly to title, honors, trophys won...
>
>I have family (emigrated in the 19th century) who lives in the States and Hawaii. Each year they compose a letter that deals with what happened last year. It contains every detail about everybody of the family who achieved something. It is certainly not a habit in the Netherlands and in the beginning it struck me because it seems so 'overdone' (I don't know a better word).

I think it's an European thing. In my upbringing, modesty was appreciated a lot, while the term "bragging rights" is something I heard here first. Still don't know how to use these rights properly. At least I think I got the spirit of it when composing my resume... and (ok, let me try to exercise these rights) it got me four jobs here.