diff --git a/app/models/status_message.rb b/app/models/status_message.rb
index fd200e445..79b1be205 100644
--- a/app/models/status_message.rb
+++ b/app/models/status_message.rb
@@ -4,10 +4,20 @@ class StatusMessage
   include ROXML
   
   xml_accessor :message
+  xml_accessor :owner
 
   
   field :message
+  field :owner
   
   validates_presence_of :message
+  
+  before_create :add_owner
+  
+  protected
+  
+  def add_owner
+    self.owner ||= User.first.email    
+  end
 
 end
diff --git a/app/views/status_messages/index.html.haml b/app/views/status_messages/index.html.haml
index 222df2dee..c54056f30 100644
--- a/app/views/status_messages/index.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/status_messages/index.html.haml
@@ -1,13 +1,14 @@
 - title "Status Messages"
 
-%table
-  %tr
-    %th Message
+
+%h3 Messages
+%ul
   - for status_message in @status_messages
-    %tr
-      %td= status_message.message
-      %td= link_to 'Show', status_message
-      %td= link_to 'Destroy', status_message, :confirm => 'Are you sure?', :method => :delete
+    %li
+      = "#{status_message.message} by #{status_message.owner}"
+      = link_to 'Show', status_message
+      |
+      =link_to 'Destroy', status_message, :confirm => 'Are you sure?', :method => :delete
 
 
 %h2 Friends
diff --git a/app/views/status_messages/show.html.haml b/app/views/status_messages/show.html.haml
index d06bf2f55..4be35c793 100644
--- a/app/views/status_messages/show.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/status_messages/show.html.haml
@@ -3,6 +3,10 @@
 %p
   %strong Message:
   = @status_message.message
+  
+%p
+  %strong Owner:
+  = @status_message.owner
 
 %p
   = link_to "Destroy", @status_message, :confirm => 'Are you sure?', :method => :delete
diff --git a/config/mongoid.yml b/config/mongoid.yml
index 6a6e6be61..2a97fd67c 100644
--- a/config/mongoid.yml
+++ b/config/mongoid.yml
@@ -1,10 +1,5 @@
 defaults: &defaults
   host: localhost
-  # slaves:
-  #   - host: slave1.local
-  #     port: 27018
-  #   - host: slave2.local
-  #     port: 27019
   allow_dynamic_fields: false
   parameterize_keys: true
   persist_in_safe_mode: true
diff --git a/spec/controllers/status_messages_controller_spec.rb b/spec/controllers/status_messages_controller_spec.rb
index b8ea56b37..e0fe528d6 100644
--- a/spec/controllers/status_messages_controller_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/controllers/status_messages_controller_spec.rb
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ describe StatusMessagesController do
   before do
     #TODO(dan) Mocking Warden; this is a temp fix
     request.env['warden'] = mock_model(Warden, :authenticate => @user, :authenticate! => @user)
+    User.create(:email => "bob@aol.com", :password => "secret")
     StatusMessage.create(:message => "yodels.")
   end
 
diff --git a/spec/models/status_message_spec.rb b/spec/models/status_message_spec.rb
index 7cf7e308a..81a041742 100644
--- a/spec/models/status_message_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/status_message_spec.rb
@@ -8,18 +8,26 @@ describe StatusMessage do
     n.valid?.should be true
   end
   
+  it "should add an owner if none is present" do
+    User.create(:email => "bob@aol.com", :password => "big bux")
+    n = StatusMessage.create(:message => "puppies!")
+    n.owner.should == "bob@aol.com"
+  end
+  
   describe "XML" do
     before do
-      @xml = "<statusmessage>\n  <message>I hate WALRUSES!</message>\n</statusmessage>" 
+      @xml = "<statusmessage>\n  <message>I hate WALRUSES!</message>\n  <owner>Bob</owner>\n</statusmessage>" 
     end
       
     it 'should serialize to XML' do
-      message = StatusMessage.new(:message => "I hate WALRUSES!")
+      message = StatusMessage.create(:message => "I hate WALRUSES!", :owner => "Bob")
       message.to_xml.to_s.should == @xml
     end
   
     it 'should marshal serialized XML to object' do       
-      StatusMessage.from_xml(@xml).message.should == "I hate WALRUSES!"
+      parsed = StatusMessage.from_xml(@xml)
+      parsed.message.should == "I hate WALRUSES!"
+      parsed.owner.should == "Bob"
     end
   end
 end