Reindexing after initial download of bitcoin core
Well, I figured this one out. Running a full node on my other computer with internal hard drive is much quicker.

Believe the original problem that I had was that I downloaded the application on my internal hard drive but saved the blockchain itself on an wireless external drive. Having the external drive disconnected even once I think would cause some issue.

Given the size of the blockchain, not sure what the plan is once it reaches 1TB?