J.D. Hodges - Page 10 of 177 - Every man has a story, this is my story.

Do I Need to Scan Both Sides of a 1099-NEC?

Monday, 2026.03.09 J.D. H. Leave a comment

Q: When I scan my 1099-NEC forms for digital filing, should I use duplex (two-sided) scanning to capture the back? A: For most people, single-sided (simplex) scanning is all you need. The front of your 1099-NEC contains everything that matters: payer information, your TIN, and the compensation amounts the IRS cares about. The back is just standard IRS instructions that are identical on every single 1099-NEC printed. There is nothing unique to your return on the back side. Scanning single-sided

MacBook Neo Deep Dive: Benchmarks, Wafer Economics, and the 8GB Gamble

Saturday, 2026.03.07 J.D. H. 20 comments

Update, July 2026: covering Apple’s price increase (the Neo is $699 now, up from $599). Summary: the MacBook Neo is VERY fast for bursty everyday use but fairly limited for sustained, memory-heavy, or pro workloads. If you don’t have an interest in the computer industry and its history, you can probably skip everything else below. Otherwise, read on! Availability Heads Up (July 2026) Apple raised the Neo to $699 on June 25, 2026 (it launched at $599). Supply has finally

How 25,000 Junk Folders Were Breaking My AI Doc Organizer (Garbage In, Garbage Out)

Thursday, 2026.03.05 J.D. H. Leave a comment

How 25,000 Junk Folders Were Silently Breaking My AI Document Organizer (Garbage In, Garbage Out) Thousands of (somewhat) zombie Quicken folders taken care of via compressing them into one 7z archive: Details: My AI File Organizer Was Fighting 25,000 Phantom Folders (And Losing 😜) For a while, my automated document filer was misbehaving. Scan an insurance card — it suggests filing it in a folder called Q-Final. Scan a bank statement — it wants to put it in Attach. The

The IRS Is Phasing Out Paper Checks: What You Need to Know

Tuesday, 2026.02.17 J.D. H. Leave a comment

February 17, 2026 Disclaimer: This blog post is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or financial advice. The author is not acting as your attorney, CPA, or tax advisor. Tax law and IRS policy are subject to change without notice, and the information presented here may be incomplete or outdated by the time you read it. You should consult a qualified tax professional or attorney regarding your specific situation before making any decisions based on

Windows 10 printing to old/offline printer instead of new one [SOLVED]

Tuesday, 2026.02.17 J.D. H. Leave a comment

TL;DR: Replaced a printer but Windows 10 keeps sending jobs to the old one? Cancel the stuck jobs in the old printer’s queue, then set your new printer as the default. Two minutes and you’re back in business. 👍 So I got a message from a client’s office today. “The printer won’t print.” Classic. We had just set up a brand new Brother DCP-L5510DN to replace their old DCP-L5500DN. The new printer was confirmed working via USB the day before.

Could Not Update Post in the Database [SOLVED]

Monday, 2026.02.16 J.D. H. Leave a comment

WordPress Gutenberg “Could Not Update Post in the Database” Fix (IONOS, utf8mb3, and Emoji Issues) I ran into a fun one tonight while trying to publish a post to an older WordPress site hosted on IONOS. Figured I’d document it since it took me a few minutes to figure this out and hopefully this saves someone else the trouble. The Problem I wrote a post in the Gutenberg block editor, hit Publish, and got this: “Publishing failed. Could not update

Claude AI Custom Instructions: A Real Example That Actually Works

Monday, 2026.02.16 J.D. H. 10 comments

TL;DR: Here’s a custom Claude instruction that works well for most people: *Just a note about the “unlimited resources“, Claude tends to UNDER estimate what it is capable of, and maybe even what you are capable of. Like when it estimates a task will take 4-10 hours or multiple days of sessions and then proceeds to knock it out in a few minutes. SO, sometimes it helps to be a bit aspirational in your instructions. 💪💪 Why this works: Claude

Read more AI, computer tips, programming, Software Tips

Best Computer for Claude Code in 2026

Friday, 2026.02.06 J.D. H. 4 comments

Updated July 21, 2026. Originally published February 6, 2026. Summary: If you are looking for the best computer for Claude Code in 2026, these are some top contenders in bang for your buck: the MacBook Air M5 (16GB/512GB, $1,199 to $1,255 on Amazon as of July 2026, depending on color). If you value RAM, additional ports, or don’t want Mac OS then I recommend a 32GB ThinkPad instead, $1,300 to $1,750 for current-gen. If you are on a tight budget: