Note: This is an Inside Blogging post - if you don’t care about the nuts and bolts of the blog, stop back next time for some actual food writing.
(Yes, yes. I know I said the same thing last Thursday. This blog migration took off over the long holiday weekend, and I spent my time working on that when I should have been writing a recipe post. I’m a geek. Sometimes I get lost in the tinkering. Sorry!)
Every year, my blog traffic drops February, and doesn’t really pick up again until Easter…and doesn’t take off until May. I think it’s the winter blues - everyone wants to hunker down and wait for spring. I don’t blame them - I have low level Seasonal Affective Disorder, and was thrilled to have a bright, sunny day today to lift my mood.
This year, I’m taking advantage of my February slowdown. I’m making infrastructure changes to Dad Cooks Dinner to improve site speed and security. [Footnote]For you WordPress fans out there who want details…I made a mess of things a few years ago when I migrated from Blogger.com to a BlueHost hosted WordPress site. That’s happens when you migrate first and asking questions later. I’m paying Andrew at BlogTutor.com to move me to Cloudways as my new host, and to clean up the mess that I have in my WordPress dashboard. (So many “performance” plugins…that don’t seem to help with speed.) Also, I’m getting a SSL certificate so I can run the blog as an HTTPS site, to keep Google search happy.[/footnote] These behind the scenes changes started Sunday; I apologize if the site has been going up and down over the last couple of days. It should be stabilized now. (I hope. Gulp.)
You will notice one “behind the scenes” change…if you are on my email list, that is. I switched to MailChimp as my email service. Hopefully, you won’t notice anything, other than minor formatting changes to this email. If you didn’t get your email, I’m sorry…and impressed you noticed quickly enough to come here to check. You may have to re-subscribe to get the emails flowing again. Sign up for the new email service here: DadCooksDinner eMail Signup at MailChimp
I’m also starting work with a designer to get the look of the blog overhauled. It will take a little while to get things picked out, but soon I’ll have changes you can actually see…not just the site loading a little faster.
Thanks for reading, and talk to you with new food content soon!
What do you think?
Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.
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Car says
Mike,
I hope things go smoothly. We have been enjoying the Instant Pot that you recommended. I see from your photo that you chose the blue handle on your Misery. How are you enjoying it?
Mike Vrobel says
I love the look of the Misen - that blue handle is unique - but I don't like the way it feels in my hand. It's not bad, but I prefer my old standby the Victorinox chef's knife. (I talk about it here: https://www.dadcooksdinner.com/things-i-love-shun-bob-kramer-chefs-knife/ , in an aside about the super-expensive Shun Bob Kramer.) I have larger hands, and the Misen is a little too small for me.
"Knife feel" is very personal - you have to get your hands on a knife to see if it works for you - and I hope you are enjoying yours!
Cary says
I agree with you on the hand feel plus I think the blade is a tad long. I was prompted to support the latest knife portrayed on Kickstarter but did not want to risk being disappointed again. I am also a little dismayed on all the setbacks the Meater has encountered.