diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 9e98c21..2326b39 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@
 # Environment vars
 .env
 
+# Seed data
+users.txt
+
 # Folders
 _obj
 _test
diff --git a/awsbackoff.go b/awsbackoff.go
index 010b0bc..72efd4e 100644
--- a/awsbackoff.go
+++ b/awsbackoff.go
@@ -16,26 +16,24 @@ type isRecoverableErrorFunc func(error) bool
 
 func kinesisIsRecoverableError(err error) bool {
 	recoverableErrorCodes := map[string]bool{
-		"ProvisionedThroughputExceededException": true,
 		"InternalFailure":                        true,
-		"Throttling":                             true,
+		"ProvisionedThroughputExceededException": true,
 		"ServiceUnavailable":                     true,
+		"Throttling":                             true,
 	}
-	r := false
 	cErr, ok := err.(*kinesis.Error)
 	if ok && recoverableErrorCodes[cErr.Code] == true {
-		r = true
+		return true
 	}
-	return r
+	return false
 }
 
 func urlIsRecoverableError(err error) bool {
-	r := false
 	_, ok := err.(*url.Error)
 	if ok {
-		r = true
+		return true
 	}
-	return r
+	return false
 }
 
 func netIsRecoverableError(err error) bool {
@@ -54,36 +52,32 @@ var redshiftRecoverableErrors = []*regexp.Regexp{
 }
 
 func redshiftIsRecoverableError(err error) bool {
-	r := false
 	if cErr, ok := err.(pq.Error); ok {
 		for _, re := range redshiftRecoverableErrors {
 			if re.MatchString(cErr.Message) {
-				r = true
-				break
+				return true
 			}
 		}
 	}
-	return r
+	return false
 }
 
 var isRecoverableErrors = []isRecoverableErrorFunc{
-	kinesisIsRecoverableError, netIsRecoverableError, urlIsRecoverableError, redshiftIsRecoverableError,
+	kinesisIsRecoverableError,
+	netIsRecoverableError,
+	redshiftIsRecoverableError,
+	urlIsRecoverableError,
 }
 
 // this determines whether the error is recoverable
 func isRecoverableError(err error) bool {
-	r := false
-
-	logger.Printf("isRecoverableError, type %s, value (%#v)\n", reflect.TypeOf(err).String(), err)
-
+	logger.Log("info", "isRecoverableError", "type", reflect.TypeOf(err).String(), "msg", err.Error())
 	for _, errF := range isRecoverableErrors {
-		r = errF(err)
-		if r {
-			break
+		if errF(err) {
+			return true
 		}
 	}
-
-	return r
+	return false
 }
 
 // handle the aws exponential backoff
@@ -92,7 +86,7 @@ func isRecoverableError(err error) bool {
 func handleAwsWaitTimeExp(attempts int) {
 	if attempts > 0 {
 		waitTime := time.Duration(math.Min(100*math.Pow(2, float64(attempts)), 300000)) * time.Millisecond
-		logger.Printf("handleAwsWaitTimeExp: %s\n", waitTime.String())
+		logger.Log("info", "handleAwsWaitTimeExp", "attempts", attempts, "waitTime", waitTime.String())
 		time.Sleep(waitTime)
 	}
 }
diff --git a/discard_logger.go b/discard_logger.go
deleted file mode 100644
index 1f39f0d..0000000
--- a/discard_logger.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-package connector
-
-import "os"
-
-// DiscardLogger is the an implementation of a Logger that does not
-// send any output. It can be used in scenarios when logging is not desired.
-type DiscardLogger struct{}
-
-// Fatalf is equivalent to Printf() followed by a call to os.Exit(1).
-func (l *DiscardLogger) Fatalf(format string, v ...interface{}) {
-	os.Exit(1)
-}
-
-// Printf is noop and does not have any output.
-func (l *DiscardLogger) Printf(format string, v ...interface{}) {}
diff --git a/emitter.go b/emitter.go
index 6cb8851..a28c591 100644
--- a/emitter.go
+++ b/emitter.go
@@ -7,5 +7,5 @@ package connector
 // Implementations may choose to fail the entire set of records in the buffer or to fail records
 // individually.
 type Emitter interface {
-	Emit(b Buffer, t Transformer)
+	Emit(b Buffer, t Transformer, shardID string)
 }
diff --git a/examples/s3-pipeline/main.go b/examples/s3-pipeline/main.go
index a6dbaa3..61557c0 100644
--- a/examples/s3-pipeline/main.go
+++ b/examples/s3-pipeline/main.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package main
 import (
 	"fmt"
 
+	"code.google.com/p/gcfg"
 	"github.com/harlow/kinesis-connectors"
 	"github.com/sendgridlabs/go-kinesis"
 )
diff --git a/examples/seed-stream/README.md b/examples/seed-stream/README.md
index 07bf46d..f326f5b 100644
--- a/examples/seed-stream/README.md
+++ b/examples/seed-stream/README.md
@@ -16,4 +16,5 @@ export AWS_SECRET_KEY=
 
 ### Running the code
 
+    $ curl https://s3.amazonaws.com/kinesis.test/users.txt > users.txt
     $ go run main.go
diff --git a/kinesis.go b/kinesis.go
index bbd8c00..0505af3 100644
--- a/kinesis.go
+++ b/kinesis.go
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ func CreateStream(k *kinesis.Kinesis, streamName string, shardCount int) {
 		err := k.CreateStream(streamName, shardCount)
 
 		if err != nil {
-			logger.Printf("CreateStream ERROR: %v", err)
+			logger.Log("error", "CreateStream", "msg", err.Error())
 			return
 		}
 	}
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ func CreateStream(k *kinesis.Kinesis, streamName string, shardCount int) {
 		args.Add("StreamName", streamName)
 		resp, _ = k.DescribeStream(args)
 		streamStatus := resp.StreamDescription.StreamStatus
-		logger.Printf("Stream [%v] is %v", streamName, streamStatus)
+		logger.Log("info", "DescribeStream", "stream", streamName, "status", streamStatus)
 
 		if streamStatus != "ACTIVE" {
 			time.Sleep(4 * time.Second)
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ func StreamExists(k *kinesis.Kinesis, streamName string) bool {
 	args := kinesis.NewArgs()
 	resp, err := k.ListStreams(args)
 	if err != nil {
-		logger.Printf("ListStream ERROR: %v", err)
+		logger.Log("error", "ListStream", "stream", streamName, "status", err.Error())
 		return false
 	}
 	for _, s := range resp.StreamNames {
diff --git a/logger.go b/logger.go
index 9317c06..1159006 100644
--- a/logger.go
+++ b/logger.go
@@ -1,22 +1,22 @@
 package connector
 
 import (
-	"log"
 	"os"
+
+	"github.com/go-kit/kit/log"
 )
 
 // Logger sends pipeline info and errors to logging endpoint. The logger could be
 // used to send to STDOUT, Syslog, or any number of distributed log collecting platforms.
 type Logger interface {
-	Fatalf(format string, v ...interface{})
-	Printf(format string, v ...interface{})
+	Log(keyvals ...interface{}) error
 }
 
-// specify a default logger so that we don't end up with panics.
-var logger Logger = log.New(os.Stdout, "", log.Ldate|log.Ltime|log.Lshortfile)
-
 // SetLogger adds the ability to change the logger so that external packages
 // can control the logging for this package
 func SetLogger(l Logger) {
 	logger = l
 }
+
+// specify a default logger so that we don't end up with panics.
+var logger Logger = log.NewPrefixLogger(os.Stderr)
diff --git a/pipeline.go b/pipeline.go
index dbaede0..7b05d98 100644
--- a/pipeline.go
+++ b/pipeline.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package connector
 
 import (
+	"os"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/sendgridlabs/go-kinesis"
@@ -38,7 +39,8 @@ func (p Pipeline) ProcessShard(ksis *kinesis.Kinesis, shardID string) {
 	shardInfo, err := ksis.GetShardIterator(args)
 
 	if err != nil {
-		logger.Fatalf("GetShardIterator ERROR: %v\n", err)
+		logger.Log("error", "GetShardIterator", "msg", err.Error())
+		os.Exit(1)
 	}
 
 	shardIterator := shardInfo.ShardIterator
@@ -46,7 +48,8 @@ func (p Pipeline) ProcessShard(ksis *kinesis.Kinesis, shardID string) {
 
 	for {
 		if consecutiveErrorAttempts > 50 {
-			logger.Fatalf("Too many consecutive error attempts")
+			logger.Log("error", "errorAttempts", "msg", "Too many consecutive error attempts")
+			os.Exit(1)
 		}
 
 		args = kinesis.NewArgs()
@@ -55,12 +58,12 @@ func (p Pipeline) ProcessShard(ksis *kinesis.Kinesis, shardID string) {
 
 		if err != nil {
 			if isRecoverableError(err) {
-				logger.Printf("GetRecords RECOVERABLE_ERROR: %v\n", err)
 				consecutiveErrorAttempts++
 				handleAwsWaitTimeExp(consecutiveErrorAttempts)
 				continue
 			} else {
-				logger.Fatalf("GetRecords ERROR: %v\n", err)
+				logger.Log("error", "GetRecords", "msg", err.Error())
+				os.Exit(1)
 			}
 		} else {
 			consecutiveErrorAttempts = 0
@@ -71,7 +74,7 @@ func (p Pipeline) ProcessShard(ksis *kinesis.Kinesis, shardID string) {
 				data := v.GetData()
 
 				if err != nil {
-					logger.Printf("GetData ERROR: %v\n", err)
+					logger.Log("info", "GetData", "msg", err.Error())
 					continue
 				}
 
@@ -84,7 +87,7 @@ func (p Pipeline) ProcessShard(ksis *kinesis.Kinesis, shardID string) {
 				}
 			}
 		} else if recordSet.NextShardIterator == "" || shardIterator == recordSet.NextShardIterator || err != nil {
-			logger.Printf("NextShardIterator ERROR: %v\n", err)
+			logger.Log("error", "NextShardIterator", "msg", err.Error())
 			break
 		} else {
 			time.Sleep(5 * time.Second)
@@ -92,7 +95,7 @@ func (p Pipeline) ProcessShard(ksis *kinesis.Kinesis, shardID string) {
 
 		if p.Buffer.ShouldFlush() {
 			if p.Buffer.NumRecordsInBuffer() > 0 {
-				p.Emitter.Emit(p.Buffer, p.Transformer)
+				p.Emitter.Emit(p.Buffer, p.Transformer, shardID)
 			}
 			p.Checkpoint.SetCheckpoint(shardID, p.Buffer.LastSequenceNumber())
 			p.Buffer.Flush()
diff --git a/redshift_basic_emitter.go b/redshift_basic_emitter.go
index ac9f4fd..82370a9 100644
--- a/redshift_basic_emitter.go
+++ b/redshift_basic_emitter.go
@@ -25,28 +25,29 @@ type RedshiftBasicEmitter struct {
 
 // Emit is invoked when the buffer is full. This method leverages the S3Emitter and
 // then issues a copy command to Redshift data store.
-func (e RedshiftBasicEmitter) Emit(b Buffer, t Transformer) {
+func (e RedshiftBasicEmitter) Emit(b Buffer, t Transformer, shardID string) {
 	s3Emitter := S3Emitter{S3Bucket: e.S3Bucket}
-	s3Emitter.Emit(b, t)
+	s3Emitter.Emit(b, t, shardID)
 	s3File := s3Emitter.S3FileName(b.FirstSequenceNumber(), b.LastSequenceNumber())
 
-	stmt := e.copyStatement(s3File)
-
 	for i := 0; i < 10; i++ {
 		// execute copy statement
-		_, err := e.Db.Exec(stmt)
+		_, err := e.Db.Exec(e.copyStatement(s3File))
 
 		// if the request succeeded, or its an unrecoverable error, break out of loop
-		if err == nil || isRecoverableError(err) == false {
+		if err == nil {
+			logger.Log("info", "RedshiftBasicEmitter", "shard", shardID, "file", s3File)
 			break
 		}
 
-		// handle aws backoff, this may be necessary if, for example, the
-		// s3 file has not appeared to the database yet
-		handleAwsWaitTimeExp(i)
+		// handle recoverable errors
+		if isRecoverableError(err) {
+			handleAwsWaitTimeExp(i)
+		} else {
+			logger.Log("error", "RedshiftBasicEmitter", "shard", shardID, "msg", err.Error())
+			break
+		}
 	}
-
-	logger.Printf("Redshift load completed.\n")
 }
 
 // Creates the SQL copy statement issued to Redshift cluster.
diff --git a/redshift_manifest_emitter.go b/redshift_manifest_emitter.go
index 07a6ef8..9dc7602 100644
--- a/redshift_manifest_emitter.go
+++ b/redshift_manifest_emitter.go
@@ -30,11 +30,12 @@ type RedshiftManifestEmitter struct {
 
 // Invoked when the buffer is full.
 // Emits a Manifest file to S3 and then performs the Redshift copy command.
-func (e RedshiftManifestEmitter) Emit(b Buffer, t Transformer) {
+func (e RedshiftManifestEmitter) Emit(b Buffer, t Transformer, shardID string) {
 	db, err := sql.Open("postgres", os.Getenv("REDSHIFT_URL"))
 
 	if err != nil {
-		logger.Fatalf("sql.Open ERROR: %v\n", err)
+		logger.Log("error", "sql.Open", "msg", err.Error())
+		os.Exit(1)
 	}
 
 	// Aggregate file paths as strings
@@ -54,7 +55,8 @@ func (e RedshiftManifestEmitter) Emit(b Buffer, t Transformer) {
 	_, err = db.Exec(c)
 
 	if err != nil {
-		logger.Fatalf("db.Exec ERROR: %v\n", err)
+		logger.Log("error", "db.Exec", "msg", err.Error())
+		os.Exit(1)
 	}
 
 	// Insert file paths into File Names table
@@ -62,10 +64,11 @@ func (e RedshiftManifestEmitter) Emit(b Buffer, t Transformer) {
 	_, err = db.Exec(i)
 
 	if err != nil {
-		logger.Fatalf("db.Exec ERROR: %v\n", err)
+		logger.Log("error", "db.Exec", "shard", shardID, "msg", err.Error())
+		os.Exit(1)
 	}
 
-	logger.Printf("[%v] copied to Redshift", manifestFileName)
+	logger.Log("info", "Redshfit COPY", "shard", shardID, "manifest", manifestFileName)
 	db.Close()
 }
 
@@ -118,7 +121,7 @@ func (e RedshiftManifestEmitter) writeManifestToS3(files []string, manifestFileN
 	content := e.generateManifestFile(files)
 	err := bucket.Put(manifestFileName, content, "text/plain", s3.Private, s3.Options{})
 	if err != nil {
-		logger.Printf("Error occured while uploding to S3: %v", err)
+		logger.Log("error", "writeManifestToS3", "msg", err.Error())
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/s3_emitter.go b/s3_emitter.go
index 4cf91fa..c6dde5c 100644
--- a/s3_emitter.go
+++ b/s3_emitter.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package connector
 import (
 	"bytes"
 	"fmt"
+	"os"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/crowdmob/goamz/aws"
@@ -32,7 +33,7 @@ func (e S3Emitter) S3FileName(firstSeq string, lastSeq string) string {
 }
 
 // Emit is invoked when the buffer is full. This method emits the set of filtered records.
-func (e S3Emitter) Emit(b Buffer, t Transformer) {
+func (e S3Emitter) Emit(b Buffer, t Transformer, shardID string) {
 	auth, _ := aws.EnvAuth()
 	s3Con := s3.New(auth, aws.USEast)
 	bucket := s3Con.Bucket(e.S3Bucket)
@@ -48,8 +49,9 @@ func (e S3Emitter) Emit(b Buffer, t Transformer) {
 	err := bucket.Put(s3File, buffer.Bytes(), "text/plain", s3.Private, s3.Options{})
 
 	if err != nil {
-		logger.Fatalf("S3Put ERROR: %v\n", err.Error())
+		logger.Log("error", "S3Put", "shard", shardID, "msg", err.Error())
+		os.Exit(1)
 	} else {
-		logger.Printf("[%v] records emitted to [%s]\n", b.NumRecordsInBuffer(), e.S3Bucket)
+		logger.Log("info", "S3Emitter", "shard", shardID, "bucket", e.S3Bucket, "numRecords", b.NumRecordsInBuffer())
 	}
 }
diff --git a/s3_manifest_emitter.go b/s3_manifest_emitter.go
index 88b3d06..00a1b0b 100644
--- a/s3_manifest_emitter.go
+++ b/s3_manifest_emitter.go
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 package connector
 
 import (
+	"os"
+
 	"github.com/sendgridlabs/go-kinesis"
 )
 
@@ -12,11 +14,11 @@ type S3ManifestEmitter struct {
 	Ksis         *kinesis.Kinesis
 }
 
-func (e S3ManifestEmitter) Emit(b Buffer, t Transformer) {
+func (e S3ManifestEmitter) Emit(b Buffer, t Transformer, shardID string) {
 
 	// Emit buffer contents to S3 Bucket
 	s3Emitter := S3Emitter{S3Bucket: e.S3Bucket}
-	s3Emitter.Emit(b, t)
+	s3Emitter.Emit(b, t, shardID)
 	s3File := s3Emitter.S3FileName(b.FirstSequenceNumber(), b.LastSequenceNumber())
 
 	// Emit the file path to Kinesis Output stream
@@ -28,8 +30,9 @@ func (e S3ManifestEmitter) Emit(b Buffer, t Transformer) {
 	_, err := e.Ksis.PutRecord(args)
 
 	if err != nil {
-		logger.Printf("PutRecord ERROR: %v", err)
+		logger.Log("error", "PutRecord", "msg", err)
+		os.Exit(1)
 	} else {
-		logger.Printf("[%s] emitted to [%s]", b.FirstSequenceNumber(), e.OutputStream)
+		logger.Log("info", "S3ManifestEmitter", "shard", shardID, "firstSequenceNumber", b.FirstSequenceNumber(), "stream", e.OutputStream)
 	}
 }