The Breakfast Radio Diaries 146 - Doctor, Mechanic, IT Guru

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Turns out there's a few things 'broke' so I'm rolling up the sleeves to get things patched up!

What does this thing do again?

THE CURSE OF WINDOWS 10

My son Jackson's computer has been running sloooooow. Which it really shouldn't be because it's a hand me down and was chugging along just nicely when I handed it over. But now it's taking forever to load Windows 10 (About 5 minutes from power up to usable desktop) and struggling to do things with any type of speed. 

And so over the last few days I've been pulling cords and swapping peripherals because on top of slow loading, it's now crashing when things get intense playing Roblox of all things. Last night I even put in a spare drive to load a new install of Windows and all was working well until the next restart where it crashed again in record time. 

So this afternoon I'm playing IT man to try and coax it into some kind of orderly behavior that doesn't have him coming to me with 'Dad, about my computer..' I suspect the old drive might be on its last legs but with all the hair pulling frustration so far, it really could be anything. Either I'll fix it or set it on fire, either one will be a satisfying feeling all said and done. 

OILED UP WHILE YOU WAIT

It's oil change time for the Wife's 2009 Lancer and unlike Jackson's PC, I know where to start with this one. Being the first time I've worked on this thing I am very happy to see that the oil filter is conveniently right near the oil drain plug which means I can get to both easily while under there. (There's nothing worse that a filter in a ridiculously hard to get to location, like behind the engine before the firewall.) Interestingly the last time I gave anything an oil change was when the Father in Law and I threw spanners at a turbo install mid last year and so I was a bit surprised when I saw the price of motor oil now. 

I used to pay $60 for the same amount when it wasn't on sale so this was a bit staggering. But that's inflation, oil prices and the like so welcome to the new world :/

Still, it does need a service..

NOT REALLY A DOCTOR (BUT CAN PLAY ONE ON THE INTERNET)

Finally we get to a health crisis. Not me, this page apparently. Ahrefs the site that helps with Search Engine Optimization and the like has just sent through my latest site health report and seriously, if this was a patient then you'd be calling in a priest to read the last rites: 

As you can see things were on the gradual improve and then BANG, down we went to just 4% life. Why? No idea. Maybe it's got something to do with the meta changes I made recently that were supposed to help find the place, not kill the damn thing. I've been working through lots and lots of pages to update their search description and look what's happened. 

I mean like my Subaru with head gasket issues it is still working and I haven't noticed too much of a difference since the Meta update but all of a sudden it's discovered 606 pages (which is all of them) with multiple title tags (whatever that means) and down the health goes. 

Leave this patient out in the corridor nurse, it seems to be cooked. 

(Actually if anything, this might be the final straw to move to my own hosting and step away from Blogger.com for this kind of writing. After all, only a few of the pages here make it to Google search no matter how much I try to convince the search engine 'It's pretty good stuff really!' Maybe a plan for the new year once everything calms down, I'll let you know.) 

Lots to fix, so little time!

Wish me luck

-Almigo