about how he worked with a lot of foreign governments on a variety of high-tech projects. This dude WAS some sort of electronic/computer genius and we had all sorts of crazy things in our apartment that he acquired or built.

• We had a security camera out a window focused on his car because he said that some people tried to cut his brake lines.
• He had a lot of computer equipment and gear like those "movie theater" goggles that make it seem like you have a giant screen, and he had a scanner before they were common (mid 90's) that he used to make a whole bunch of extra pool passes that he had laminated to look like the real thing.
• He used a soup can and a spring to make a cable descrambler so that we could watch pretty much anything with a few adjustments to the spring.
• He knew how to make bugs/listening devices that I listened to myself after telling him he was full of crap.
• He had a few bullet proof vests that he would wear if he went to a movie "because of the gang situation".

He also claimed to be working on some big project in Kazakhstan for a long time.  We thought it was another story, but then "Russian guys" started showing up at our apartment frequently.   Later he actually went on trip to Kazakhstan with those guys and the craziest part was that his "colleague" left his 15 year old Russian daughter with me and our other roommate for a week or so.  We felt bad for her because she didn't know anyone so we would take her to McDonald's and other places around SLC so she didn't have to sit around our apt. 24/7.

Those things are just the tip of the iceberg, but it was pretty crazy.    I don't believe your dude made those things, but there are dudes out there with similar "talents" that can do some crazy things.