I was surprised by how long it has been since I last posted! I haven't had much time lately, and even if I did there wasn't much to write about. This evening I found myself with a bit of extra time due to cancellations of appointments. The cancellations were a result of the massive manhunt going on in the town just down the road. It started with the marathon bombings Monday, which was a very sad and upsetting incident. Yesterday the situation progressed after photos of the two suspects were released, and this morning we woke up to news on the radio that one suspect was killed overnight and the other was on the loose... in the town right just 4 miles down the road! We were going to go running but stayed indoors as Waltham was in lockdown and we figured that even though technically we could leave the apartment, Prospect Hill would be an excellent place for someone to hide out. We know this for a fact; a couple years ago there was an armed attacker suspected of hiding in the park while we were running and we were ushered out by heavily armed guards.
Anyways, there are reports that there are several thousand police and special forces officers from all over MA, NH, and NY in Watertown, and they made their base at the mall where I liked to go shopping :o( The ultimate surreal experience is seeing pictures of familiar streets filled with SWAT teams and tanks on the BBC... the BBC!
Businesses in Waltham were closed and MBTA public transport was suspended. FSU, however, was not closed (it is too far away from the excitement) so I drove in to class. I probably should have just stayed in Framingham all day. Walthamites (as I like to call the locals) get feisty when they are cooped up all day: the house across the street has parties and people hang out on the balcony drinking (all day into the night); there is a drunk guy right now going up and down our road shouting something; we saw at least one drug deal below our window. Apparently people get bored when things close. Hopefully tomorrow will be more normal.
