So for anyone who saw my post in Twitter about getting detained at the border, having my glasses destroyed, and engaged by a SWAT team, its ALL true. However, They are not chronologically related. Or in other words, I wasn't approached by a SWAT team at the border and had my glasses smashed in while resisting..... NO- that would not be fun and I probably would not be home writing about it right now. Nah, I was just going to Howloween 2014 in Vancouver but I was held for an hour while they searched my car. I took the time to see the museum of things they have seized over the last couple decades. It seems the poaching and smuggling of animals parts is alive and well. I also took the time to read the pamphlets and learned what to expect on my next time through.

Howloween itself was awesome. I haven't had that much fun since AFF 2009. Its also the little group games that make the difference and its small size allows me connect with new people much easier. You're an awesome host  aphinity

Alas the real problem happened at the end of the night because my Credit Union and their outsourced card services security department is geographically inept- if not, RETARDED. Despite being able to easily drive to Vancouver within 2 hour, my so called fraud protection freaked out the moment I tried to make a purchase from a foreign country which Canada technically is. The deeper and most infuriating problem however is that my beloved fraud protection department hates doing work. They didn't call me within the hour of shutting off my card long enough to have it overlap with A 14 HOUR NETWORK maintenance. Actually, they had 3 hours to call me before the maintenance but I guess that was too much work! So by the time, I had found out about it, no one could look up my account to enable my card services again. If I hadn't topped off before I crossed the border, that would have been a HUGE disaster.

My glasses got smashed from a random fur being careless while playing "I have". I didn't mind since my frames are almost 5 years old and I was waiting for a moment like that to happen. What pissed me off is when it surmounted with my "card services" problem. I couldn't wear outdated contacts forever and needed to get my frames replaced immediately. Only a $23 purchase was keeping my from me proper sight but even after I got a hold of card services, it took them another 8 hours to fully restore my card. 2 days I was without being able to make any purchases due to their incompetence. The is no excuse for a Credit Union that operates in Washington State.

Oh yeah, the SWAT team. No, I didn't get SWATTED- I heard that's all the rage with some trolls today- the kind of trolls that belong in federal prison IMO. No, it was freak random! I was nodding off on the way home so I decided to sleep for an hour at a rest stop in Whatcom County. 45 minutes into my sleep, I heard a single alarm go off somewhere. It went on for 3 minutes then stopped. I ignored it for a few minutes but eventually when I sat up, I was surrounded by police cars. Police and deputies were armed with shotguns and the K9's were out in full force. When they saw me, I was briefly flashed with the tactical flashlights on their guns. "Get down", I heard and I thought that mean to get down on the ground so I was proceeding to open the door with my hands up. I think then they realized with misunderstanding. "No No - Stay in your car and stay low" and that's what I did though I still kept my head high enough to peek at what was going on. They had a white SUV pulled over at the other then of the rest stop. A man and a woman with their hands up. The doors were already wide open with deputies in a frantic search. Obviously, they were looking for a 3rd guy on foot. I personally though it was pretty cool getting to get a glimpse of their processes in action from the search and seizure onto the K9 units. I also noticed the way they parked their cars around me was done that way to deter anyone on foot from using me or my vehicle as cover. 15 minutes into it, they marked the place safe enough for me to turn around and leave on the other size of the rest stop. They've obviously chased that what SUV into rest stop. Pretty dumb of those crooks to think the could run or hide in a rest stop that surrounded by fence. Pfff, morons.

Other than the bullshit with my geographically inept fraud department, it was an exciting and educational 24 hours.