Hey everyone! Its been a while since I have written on here and a few of you have emailed me wondering whats going on so let me see if I can recap the last month or so.My dad and I drove down here (although he did nearly all the driving) in late August. Nearly had a few close call wrecks on the way as well. Boy....people sure do drive crazy here!!
The building here is called Old Main. Its the "old main" building that administrative offices use to be in. Its the central icon of the university and sits high on a hill overlooking everything. Its a very beautiful building. This is one of my favorite photos of it.
After I got settled in we had our first meeting of the grad students. Some of us had been emailing back and forth for a while so we already knew each other well. It almost felt like we were already friends when we first met so that was nice.
We listened to Dr McGee, the chair of our department, for a while. Soon a few other professors filtered in. One of them named Dr Reilly immediately pointed to me and said "I need to talk to you after the meeting. George Stuart sends his regards." As some of you know, Dr George Stuart was one of the most notable Mayan Archaeologist in the country. His son is the leading Mayan Hieroglyphic expert in the world, who works at the University of Texas at Austin, just down the road. So I was very pleased to hear that George had even remembered me. Apparently he had some very nice things to say. Dr Reilly told me that he knew that if Dr Stuart had written a letter of recommendation for me, that I must be something special. Ha ha!
Classes are going well. Right now I am taking an Anthropology Theory seminar, which is terribly awful. We are reading about 150 pages a week of the most boring stuff written in a very old style of writing. We also have several papers due for that class this semester. The chair of the department, Dr McGee, is a co-instructor together with Dr Warms in that class. Most of the time it seems that all they do is bicker like an old married couple.I'm also taking an Archaeology seminar in which we have several archaeology problems that we have to solve. Most of them have to do with excavation strategy and things like that.
My last class is on that Dr Reilly teaches. Its Art and Archaeology of the Olmec. I love this class. Because it mostly deals with my area of expertise, I get put on the spot a lot in that class.....in front of about 70+ people. If there is a Mayan Glyph in the slideshow, he usually says "Mr Glisson, explain to everyone what we are looking at" or he just points to me with this commanding look and lets me know its my turn to speak. So most of the class I am on the edge of my seat but its sure is very interesting. Dr Reilly is likely one of the top experts in the world on the Olmec civilization. After hearing his name, I looked him up in my archaeology books and he is in most of them.
Right now I am working 2 jobs, and might be adding a third. My first job is working at the Alumni Association of
Texas State. I love this job. Currently I am working with the head of Alumni Affairs and designing a new website for them. Here is my new design. Its not being used yet, but I am working on it. <http://www.txstatealumni.org/new_site/index.htm>Their current one is ancient. They have been impressed by my work already and have asked me to make some new graphics for them to use in emails and things. The building I work in is an old house that's really nice on the inside (My office is upstairs.). Apparently the room that I work in is the room that Lyndon B Johnson use to live in when he was a Student at Texas State (then Southwest Texas Teaching College). It is neat going to a school that a president graduated from, but BOY! do they have pictures of him everywhere!!
My second job is working for one of the archaeologist doing a HUGE website called Texas Beyond History. It is a state-wide website about the history of Texas and the archaeology sites around the state. It is easily the largest website I have ever worked on. Its used A LOT by people all over the world and has been featured on a lot of news and TV programs. Here is the Texas Beyond History website. <http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/>
The third job, which I have yet to start, is teaching guitar lessons for one of my professors sons. Its been a while since I have taught guitar and I thought now would be a good time to get back into it.
The campus is really nice and has some beautiful spots. Its really well organized and easy to get around. I take the bus from my apartment everyday which is great because I never have to drive. I could actually take the bus anywhere I need to. The public transportation is fairly good here. Nothing like Germany, but its pretty good for the US. I think Texas is a little ahead of the other states in that area. The train station here is really nice too and has a bus station right there which is nice (just like most European cities).Recently Dr Reilly told me that he wants me to fly to San Francisco to view someones private collection of Mayan artifacts. That is going to be interesting. I am not sure when that will be but I am looking forward to that. I have also been told that several of my papers will be published before I graduate so I am very excited about the way things are going.
This coming weekend we are having a Mayan Hieroglyphic conference and workshop. A guest speaker is coming to teach a hieroglyphic workshop and we will be viewing the movie "Breaking the Maya Code". I saw this last year at the University of Texas at Austin's Maya Meetings that they have every year. Its an excellent documentary. Most of the archaeologist that are in it I have had the pleasure of meeting and talking to. Dr George Stuart is in the movie as well.
The weather is certainly cooling off. When my dad and I first got here in was in the 100s for a few weeks. I think this week it is actually in the low 80s which is a BIG change.
The city of San Marcos is nice and quaint. It has a Greenville NC feel to it almost. Sometimes it seems like I didn't actually leave Greenville because it really does have that same feeling, except there are A LOT of hills here. Some of them very steep. There is a large lake called Aquarena nearby that people scuba dive in. I am going to try to get around to doing that soon. The river that flows through the town is fed from a spring. The water is crystal clear and usually crowded with people swimming all over the city (even on cold days) at the different parks. Some of the 
parks are very beautiful and very well maintained.Ok....so lets talk about Barbecue. :-) First off....I really do miss Eastern NC BBQ. Nothing beats Wilbers. But down here....its an entirely different animal. All the BBQ is beef. The first week here we had a big catered dinner which was all BBQ. I had never heard of Brisket before but WOW....it is SO good. They also have smoked sausage and some other cuts of beef. Its all very good though. Every time I explain to Texans what BBQ is in NC, they just can't believe it.
That's about all I can think of right now. I'll write more soon, hopefully.
