I wanted to give everyone a quick update on what's going on with the 1998 membership merchandise and processing.

First of all, I ordered the first wave of merchandise a few weeks back, and it's starting to trickle in.  I have already received T-shirts (Silver members) and car magnets (O&M members).  The garments for Platinum 1-3 levels have all arrived, and they are currently waiting to be stitched and personalized.  The HokieCentral wrist watches (Gold members) are long-lead items and may take 2-4 more weeks to arrive.

The window statics (all members) should be arriving at the end of this week, which will mean that I'll be able to start shipping stuff soon ... but, be aware that I have received a ton of memberships so far this year (well over 100), so the packing and shipping process is going to be a little slow and laborious.  As soon as basketball season is over (early March), I should have a little more time to concentrate on membership items, and things should pick up as far as shipping goes.

Although I have a lot of items in stock now, it's not quite enough to cover everyone who has paid up to this point.  Since the merchandise was ordered about 3-4 weeks ago, some memberships that I have received since then were not included in the original order (I ordered some extra quantities of the high-demand items, such as XL T-shirts, but demand has recently exceeded the supply that I ordered).

This means that a few of you whose checks I have received more recently, like in the last week or so, might not have made the cut of this first batch of merchandise and won't be included in the first shipment.  If you fall into this group, I'll make an effort to let you know that, as well as telling you when your stuff will be ordered.  Hang tight and please be patient.

As for the HokieCentral Members Only web site, it is also slowly coming together.   It has taken longer than I anticipated to get it set up with my web hosting service, and once it is set up, there is still the challenge of actually creating it.  The first thing I'll do is post the complete HokieCentral archives to the Members Only area.  The archives, which will go all the way back to March 12, 1996, the dawn of HokieCentral, are the real "meat" of the Members Only area.   They are worth the price of admission alone, particularly if you're relatively new to HokieCentral.

I anticipate that the archive portion of the Members Only area will be ready in about two weeks, if my web hosting service gets the site set up soon so I can start posting to it.

Thanks to everyone for their patience.  The number of 1998 HokieCentral memberships has exceeded my expectations and has created a lot of work - in all of 1997, there were 260 HokieCentral members, and 1998's membership count has already reached 130 (half of 1997's totals) in just 1-1/2 months.  Thanks to everyone for their support, generosity, and excitement as we all move forward with making this place Hokie Heaven on the Internet (as if it's not already).

I am taking this week off to concentrate on work, personal concerns, and membership processing.  See you next week!

TSL News and Notes Archives