At about 12:15 am (10 minutes ago or so) Jessi and I heard 4 shots fired somewhere in the general area (Central Square). Immediately after two cop cars with lights on but no sirens came down Bishop Richard Allen, paused, and then to a squealing right turn onto Columbia heading towards Mass Ave. Now there are two cruisers parked in front of Morgan Park on Columbia St. with two cops directly across the street searching for something in front of an apartment building.

From our bedroom window, which faces away from the park, towards Mass Ave, it sounded like the shots came from directly outside. But with the buildings around the sound could easily have just bounced around and really come from anywhere. It was definitely relatively close by, and a small caliber gun (sounded a lot like a .22, but I’d guess a 9mm is more likely). I think it’s also safe to say that there was only one gun. Immediately after the shots were fired a large, black SUV (looked like a newer-model Chevy, but it’s hard to say) came down Bishop Allen (from the same direction the cop cars later came from), went straight through the intersection and took the street that bears off to the left after the parking lot (no idea what it’s called).

From observing the cops’ behavior, my take is that the shooting took place probably across the street from Morgan Park (there was a shooting there not too long ago). The two cops on foot across the street had to be either searching for evidence that the gun was fired from there (such as shell casings on the sidewalk) or that the gun was fired towards there (such as bullet holes or at least impacts on the brick building), they were looking both the ground and the side of the building so it’s hard to say. The two cars that sped off towards Mass Ave must have received a report of the gunman and were speeding off to pursue. That’s all the info I have right now as it hasn’t made it to the news yet (obviously), but as it sounded like it happened literally in my own backyard I’m very curious to find out more. I’ll probably post here about is as I do.

[Edit: check out Jessi's blog for an alternative take on things]

One of the things that I’ve been pretty bad at lately is just keeping up to date with what’s going on. It was pretty easy before with my old job as I was always in an office with people whose jobs required them to be on top of the latest high-tech news. But since I’ve gotten to Boston I’ve realized that it’s much harder to do that on my own. Not helping matters is the fact that I’m on a new computer because all my RSS feeds are on my PowerMac that I won’t be getting back for another half a month.

Despite my somewhat lackluster approach to it lately, knowing what’s going on is really extremely important when trying to do business, especially when trying to do business in a high tech field. If I’m going to be successful at all in terms of helping people with their computers I need to know what sorts of things are popular, what software people are using, what the latest and greatest tools I should be recommending are. I also need to be familiar enough with those things that I can do more than just mention them and offer 3rd-hand advice on them.

So starting today I’m going to do my best to fix this. Earlier, we went to a bookstore where I grabbed a few magazines. Despite my high-tech leanings, I really do prefer reading print magazines to the online versions. I find it to be a more pleasant experience, and easier on the eyes. Plus I don’t need to worry about the battery dying in the latest issue of Wired. Plus it’s a lot easier for an article to catch your attention when you’ve got a whole column of it there in front of you next to the article you’re already reading rather than just a headline linking you to the body elsewhere so I tend to get more from the print versions as well.

I also intend to start going to BMAC (Boston Macintosh Users Group) meetings—I meant to go to the one this month (especially as it was all about WWDC), but sadly I completely forgot. The nice thing about actual gatherings is that, in addition to learning about current events, it will help me start building my Boston network and also possibly bring in some business. There’s a few other groups with meetings that I intend to attend, some more work-related than others (like a few language groups). Although to be honest, I’m much more excited about the fact that I’m going to be playing rugby again. Hopefully this Tuesday I’ll be back on a rugby pitch for the first time in about 5 years. I can’t wait.