diff --git a/app/models/app_config.rb b/app/models/app_config.rb
index 148c1ba7d..e31e4dbb7 100644
--- a/app/models/app_config.rb
+++ b/app/models/app_config.rb
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ require 'uri'
 class AppConfig < Settingslogic
 
   def self.source_file_name
-    if Rails.env == 'test' || ENV["CI"] || Rails.env.include?("integration") || ENV["HEROKU"].present?
+    if Rails.env == 'test' || ENV["CI"] || Rails.env.include?("integration") || ENV["HEROKU"]
       File.join(Rails.root, "config", "application.yml.example")
     else
       File.join(Rails.root, "config", "application.yml")
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ class AppConfig < Settingslogic
   namespace Rails.env
 
   def self.load!
-    unless ENV["HEROKU"].present?
+    unless ENV["HEROKU"]
       if no_config_file? && !have_old_config_file?
         $stderr.puts <<-HELP
 ******** You haven't set up your Diaspora settings file. **********
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ Please do the following:
       Process.exit(1)
     end
 
-    if !ENV["HEROKU"].present? && no_cert_file_in_prod?
+    if !ENV["HEROKU"] && no_cert_file_in_prod?
       $stderr.puts <<-HELP
 ******** Diaspora does not know where your SSL-CA-Certificates file is. **********
   Please add the root certificate bundle (this is operating system specific) to application.yml. Defaults:
@@ -134,9 +134,9 @@ HELP
   def self.pod_uri
     if @@pod_uri.nil?
       begin
-        @@pod_uri = Addressable::URI.parse(self.pod_url)
+        @@pod_uri = Addressable::URI.parse(self[:pod_url])
       rescue
-        puts "WARNING: pod url " + self.pod_url + " is not a legal URI"
+        puts "WARNING: pod url " + self[:pod_url] + " is not a legal URI"
       end
     end
     return @@pod_uri