Change is gonna come ... unfortunately

Hi folks,

If you were hoping this post would have good news, think again. But it's not all bad, I guess.

First, the nut-graph: We will soon raise our price on 99-cent downloads to $1.99.

Here's why: The company that hosts our website - smug mug - has decided to raise the cost it charges us for downloads by 50 cents. Wish it weren't true and wish we could absorb the fee increase, but as you can imagine our profit on a 99-cent download isn't a lot.

When will this happen: Short answer - any second now. Long answer: We were told the price change was to begin March 1. It didn't happen. But I'm told it will happen. Soon. And when it does, our prices will jump as soon as we can make the changes to the galleries.

So, if you want to lock in those 99-cent rates, I'd suggest you act soon.

(Remember, not all galleries have 99-cent downloads, especially galleries more than a two years old. If you want to know if a gallery qualifies, email me the name of the team and I can tell you quickly.)

Of course, another complicating factor is that many of our galleries are not listed because of our new website design. There are over 1,000 galleries we need to re-catagorize and it's taking forever to do that. It will get done at some point, but not soon.

However, all is not lost. We have a new search feature at the top of the website that works like a dream to find galleries. Simply type in the name of the team you are lookinf for and the list of the galleries with that team name in the title will appear.

For instance, say you want to find all BFA-St. Albans girls hockey photos from 2012. Type in BFA-St. Albans 2012 and you will find these, and probably some other BFA games, but you'll find your galleries soon enough.

A couple of hints on searching - we always use the proper school name in our gallery titles and not the mascot, i.e. BFA-St. Albans, BFA-Fairfax, not Comets, Bullets, Rockets, etc ... Also, we always put the year in title, so searches for Richford 2012 should yield great results. Sometimes we put the sport in the title - we will do so for all galleries moving forward, but it's possible a search for Enosburg girls soccer 2012 might not yield results, but Enosburg 2012 will - you will just have to search for the girls soccer galleries.

Make sense? If you have any questions, email shawn@coldhollowphoto.com

Thanks for visiting the blog!

Shawn

Introducing ... Tweets of the Week

My name is Shawn and I'm a Twitter-holic.

And I'm not alone - I only follow about 150 Twitterers or are they Twits? I forget. Anyway, as lame as some Twits or Tweets can be, there's some pithy remarks that come down the line and I've decided to create a regular (or more likely, given my proclivities, a one-and-done) blog feature called the Tweets of the Week.

As the title suggests, it's a mish-mash of things that are either funny (mostly) or apt. At some point, I might get better at putting a context or date to the Twit or Tweet, but for this go round I'm going to do both ... or neither. Hey, it's my blog and I'll do what I want to.

Without further ado (and not Freddy Adu) here are my first Tweets of the Week.

(The too-cute Tweet of the Week)
• While eating lunch at my daughter's school, a 4th grader asks how I forcast the weather. Another answers "He has a weather-teller machine."
@TomMessner

(The why I'll never fly again TotW)
• Waiting to board connecting flight. Guy next to me barking at ex-wife on the phone that HE IS stable,and that she is afraid of happiness
@Buster_ESPN

(If I could be anyone for a day it would be Scott Van Pelt)
• People campaigning to get me an ESPY invite - I would end up bombed, pilfering gift bags and being creepy to Emma Stone. It'd be hideous.
@notthefakeSVP

(This is the tamest post she had this week, but one of my faves)
• I just can't imagine there's a god, but I do believe he has a plan.
@SarahKSilverman

(One of the few people more addicted to Twitter than I, and much more enjoyable to read)
• Young TV reporter to Francona: "What are the odds of you winning the championship?" Francona: "Are you from Vegas?"
@PeteAbe

(Our reigning Miss Vermont is prolific - and timely)
• Overheard at the #VTStateHouse: "You haven't played angry birds?! Here, let me show you..." *Legislator whips out iPad*
@CarolineBright

(Nice jab considering UVM beat the Bearcats in men's hoops Sunday)
• -7 in Burlington, -4 in Binghamton. They can't even beat us at bad weather. #gocatsgo #uvm #fearthestache
@VTMotorMag

(Seth is a fellow Twit-maven and his RTs - retweets - for you newbies - and pithy insights make me smile often)
• Well done RT @noahovernight You know it's cold out when they change the name to Al's French Frozen #vermontarctica
@WCAX_Seth

(I thought of this the first time they showed the ref in the Steeler-Jet game. He's what a real-life Ken doll looks like at 53.)
• How cold is it in Pittsburgh? Ed Hochuli has the pythons covered.
@richeisen

That's all I got for this week. To paraphrase the illustriuous (and often orange) Tony Kornheiser - I'll try to do better next time.

If you are feeling lucky, try to check back next Monday sometime after midnight for another edition of TotW. Who knows? It could happen ... and it might even be typo-free. Yeah, right.

SHAWN CORROW, when he's not making promises he likely will not keep, is the owner of Cold Hollow Photography and an infrequent blogger. Got a tweet that can't be beat, email it to him at shawn@coldhollowphoto.com