Bay City Computers

09/03/2026

The "adult" female driving this car needs some anger management lessons.
I witnessed her driving west on Kosciuszko, and right in front of my store, she illegally passed a car, and then JAMMED ON HER BRAKES coming to a dead stop. The car she had just passed almost hit her. The passer proceeds to roll down her car window and start berating the driver behind her. Traffic is backing up. Everyone is looking confused, and this lady just a keeps on yellin'.
I finally walk out into the street to take a picture in case she causes a wreck. She lets me have it for taking the picture.
She finally takes off, and then hits her brakes again, trying to cause a wreck. Finally the person behind her turned at Tubby's and got the hell away from her.
You just keep on being classy lady. And was that your kid in back witnessing all this? Nice.

09/03/2026

Lets make this perfectly clear now.
If you plan on voting by mail in the 2028 General Election, you really really need to rethink that decision.

“As presently designed, if even one bar code on one single ballot in a bulk-mailing of 10,000 ballots fails to properly scan during the verification process, the entire batch is rejected and sent back to the state — effectively stopping the ballots from being mailed to voters".

In internal meetings, officials worried the rules they were drafting could delay or block ballots from reaching large swaths of eligible voters for the upcoming midterms.

09/01/2026

-sigh-
She comes in with a laptop that won't access the internet. Don't get me wrong, it connects... but something is stopping it from sending and receiving data.
One look at her screen and I say "Your problem is Norton." She refuses to believe me. "I just paid $500 for it."
Like, how much you paid for the garbage screwing up your computer makes a difference...?
Absolutely will not listen.
Leaves it with me for a general clean up.
I go through all the steps and guess what gets her computer back out to the internet?
Uninstalling Norton.
I can't wait until I tell her.
Edit - She took that much better than expected. With a smile in her voice and a laugh afterwards.
Yay!!!

09/01/2026

Florida has banned Flock cameras from State highway right of ways.
Last week Texas removed state funding for Flock cameras.
Funny that Texas and Florida are being more progressive than Michigan.

08/29/2026

"Communities from Lansing, Michigan, to Pflugerville, Texas, are ending their relationship with Flock, largely over concerns regarding out-of-control surveillance, unwanted data sharing, high expenses, and reports of police abusing the tool"

Cancellations have accelerated.

08/28/2026

An update...
I've been trying to figure out how to install two programs so that they work together.
One is called RadioDj and the other is MySQL.
MySQL is a database program necessary for the RadioDJ software to work. I'm not going to lie, I've always considered MySQL, SQL Server, and other database programs to be "above my pay grade."
I have spent WEEKS trying to figure it out. My forehead is bloody from the brick wall.
Yesterday I decided to try again, with help. ChatGPT.
I'm not going to say it was painless... ChatGPT made more than one mistake, nor fast... it took four HOURS, but results matter.
The Train (Version 2) is up and running on a brand new Windows 11 desktop. I'm testing her now.
This is a huge step in the right direction.
Next up - giving The Train a voice.
Coming soon...

08/25/2026

"Two people die of measles in Pennsylvania."
If there was only, I don't know, a vaccine to prevent such an illness. We should start working on one.

08/21/2026

This is like saying 55MPH is too fast. We must save the slower smaller less efficient engines because... y'know.... we're idiots.
"Unfair to slower technologies".
Idiots. We have elected idiots. Who have appointed idiots.
If they could only find a way to power all of this with coal, they'd really have it all figured out.

FCC decides 1Gbps is too fast, standard must be "technologically neutral."

08/16/2026

Can we talk about USPS (United States Postal Service) and eBay?
Last month we sent 66 orders using the cheapest shipping option eBay offers. This is USPS. And when we ship through USPS at the cheapest option we get a "tracking number" that begins with ESUS********.
I've talked to the post office. They deny that this is a "tracking number" as, um, it's NOT tracked.
Of the 66 orders we shipped, EIGHTEEN do not show a delivery date. That's 27%. It just says "Shipped" and the "tracking" stops somewhere. Could be anywhere.
Here's my favorite part. If any of those 18 orders file a "didn't receive" claim, we have no proof that it was delivered. eBay will not take our side without such proof, so we are on the hook for a refund if demanded. (and one person has.)
Here's the point. Only one person has. Some have even left positive feedback, which indicates they DID receive the card.
Proof? WE'VE received cards that still say "shipped".
Bottom line? If someone wanted to game the system, it appears they could get 25% of their money back by filing claims for cards they received.
But no one is THAT dishonest, riiiiiight?

08/15/2026

Gentleman comes in with a very expensive gaming laptop.
It was not starting so he opened it up. While it was open he accidentally touched the motherboard with the screwdriver and saw a spark. After that it wouldn't even turn on. NOW, he brings it in to me.
After playing with it for a half and hour, I'm able to get it to start. It will not charge however.
So, just to be sure, I order a different power adapter.
Yeah. That didn't work either.
I believe he shorted part of the charging system, and if this is going to be fixed, it's going to take component level work.
That's way above my pay grade.