diff --git a/app/controllers/socket_controller.rb b/app/controllers/socket_controller.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6046697b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/controllers/socket_controller.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+class SocketController < ApplicationController 
+  include ApplicationHelper
+  include SocketHelper
+  include Rails.application.routes.url_helpers
+  before_filter :authenticate_user! 
+  
+  
+  
+ # def default_url_options()
+ #   {:host=> 'example.com'}
+ # end
+
+  def incoming(msg)
+    puts "#{msg} connected!"
+  end
+  
+  def new_subscriber
+    WebSocket.subscribe
+  end
+  
+  def outgoing(object)
+    @_request = ActionDispatch::Request.new({})
+    WebSocket.push_to_clients(action_hash(object))
+  end
+  
+  def delete_subscriber(sid)
+    WebSocket.unsubscribe(sid)
+  end
+
+
+end
diff --git a/app/controllers/users_controller.rb b/app/controllers/users_controller.rb
index eb6a95578..91c199c97 100644
--- a/app/controllers/users_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/users_controller.rb
@@ -4,4 +4,8 @@ class UsersController < ApplicationController
   def index
     @users = User.sort(:created_at.desc).all
   end
+
+  def show
+    @user = User.find(params[:id])
+  end
 end
diff --git a/app/helpers/application_helper.rb b/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
index dbceffe78..c476210ab 100644
--- a/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
@@ -38,8 +38,8 @@ module ApplicationHelper
   end
 
   def owner_picture
-    default = "#{root_url}images/user/default.jpg"
-    image = "#{root_url}images/user/#{User.first.profile.last_name.gsub(/ /,'').downcase}.jpg"
+    default = "/images/user/default.jpg"
+    image = "/images/user/#{User.first.profile.last_name.gsub(/ /,'').downcase}.jpg"
 
     if File.exist?("public/images/user/#{User.first.profile.last_name.gsub(/ /,'').downcase}.jpg")
       image_tag image, :id => "user_picture"
diff --git a/app/helpers/socket_helper.rb b/app/helpers/socket_helper.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..36124a60d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/helpers/socket_helper.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+module SocketHelper
+ include ApplicationHelper 
+  
+ def obj_id(object)
+    (object.is_a? Post) ? object.id : object.post_id
+  end
+  
+  def url_options
+    {:host => ""}
+  end
+
+  def action_hash(object)
+    begin
+      v = render_to_string(:partial => type_partial(object), :locals => {:post => object}) unless object.is_a? Retraction
+    rescue Exception => e
+      puts "web socket view rendering failed for some reason." + v.inspect
+      puts object.inspect
+      puts e.message
+      raise e 
+    end
+    {:class =>object.class.to_s.underscore.pluralize, :html => v, :post_id => obj_id(object)}.to_json
+  end
+
+  
+
+end
diff --git a/app/models/comment.rb b/app/models/comment.rb
index bcc3c929b..55cfe7890 100644
--- a/app/models/comment.rb
+++ b/app/models/comment.rb
@@ -36,6 +36,6 @@ class Comment
   
   
   def send_to_view
-      WebSocket.update_clients(self)
+    SocketController.new.outgoing(self)
   end
 end
diff --git a/app/models/post.rb b/app/models/post.rb
index 22ebc7859..266e16d0b 100644
--- a/app/models/post.rb
+++ b/app/models/post.rb
@@ -53,11 +53,11 @@ class Post
   end
 
   def send_to_view
-    WebSocket.update_clients(self)
+    SocketController.new.outgoing(self)
   end
   
   def remove_from_view
-    WebSocket.update_clients(Retraction.for(self))
+    SocketController.new.outgoing(Retraction.for(self))
   end
 
 end
diff --git a/app/views/js/_websocket_js.haml b/app/views/js/_websocket_js.haml
index 93286423c..a4ec035e2 100644
--- a/app/views/js/_websocket_js.haml
+++ b/app/views/js/_websocket_js.haml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
       function debug(str){ $("#debug").append("<p>" +  str); };
 
       ws = new WebSocket("ws://#{request.host}:8080/");
-      ws.onmessage = function(evt) { 
+      ws.onmessage = function(evt) {
         var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(evt.data);
         debug("got a " + obj['class']);
 
diff --git a/app/views/status_messages/_status_message.html.haml b/app/views/status_messages/_status_message.html.haml
index f3e94c09d..1333640f9 100644
--- a/app/views/status_messages/_status_message.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/status_messages/_status_message.html.haml
@@ -1,14 +1,14 @@
 %li.message{:id => post.id, :class => ("mine" if mine?(post))}
   %span.from
-    = link_to_person post.person
+    = link_to post.person.real_name, post.person 
     = auto_link post.message
     
   %div.time
     = link_to(how_long_ago(post), status_message_path(post))
     \--
     = link_to "show comments (#{post.comments.count})", '#', :class => "show_post_comments"
-  = render "comments/comments", :post => post 
+  = render   "comments/comments", :post => post 
 
   - if mine?(post)
     .destroy_link
-      = link_to 'Delete', status_message_path(post), :confirm => 'Are you sure?', :method => :delete, :remote => true
+      = link_to 'Delete', status_message_url(post), :confirm => 'Are you sure?', :method => :delete, :remote => true
diff --git a/config/initializers/inflections.rb b/config/initializers/inflections.rb
index dded445cc..bf760d087 100644
--- a/config/initializers/inflections.rb
+++ b/config/initializers/inflections.rb
@@ -7,5 +7,5 @@
 #   inflect.singular /^(ox)en/i, '\1'
 #   inflect.irregular 'person', 'people'
 #   inflect.uncountable %w( fish sheep )
-    inflect.uncountable %w(dashboard)
+    inflect.uncountable %w(dashboard socket)
  end
diff --git a/config/initializers/socket.rb b/config/initializers/socket.rb
index 105314b8a..d1fcfc315 100644
--- a/config/initializers/socket.rb
+++ b/config/initializers/socket.rb
@@ -1,31 +1,43 @@
 require 'em-websocket'
 require 'eventmachine'
-require 'lib/socket_render'
+
+
+
 module WebSocket
   EM.next_tick {
-    EM.add_timer(0.1) do
-      @channel = EM::Channel.new
-      puts @channel.inspect
-      include SocketRenderer
-      
-      SocketRenderer.instantiate_view 
-    end
+    initialize_channel
     
     EventMachine::WebSocket.start(
                   :host => "0.0.0.0", 
                   :port => APP_CONFIG[:socket_port],
                   :debug =>APP_CONFIG[:debug]) do |ws|
       ws.onopen {
-        sid = @channel.subscribe { |msg| ws.send msg }
+        @ws = ws
+        sid = SocketController.new.new_subscriber
         
-        ws.onmessage { |msg| }#@channel.push msg; puts msg}
+        ws.onmessage { |msg| SocketController.new.incoming(msg) }#@channel.push msg; puts msg}
 
-        ws.onclose {  @channel.unsubscribe(sid) }
+        ws.onclose { SocketController.new.delete_subscriber(sid) }
       }
     end
   }
 
-  def self.update_clients(object)
-    @channel.push(SocketRenderer.view_hash(object).to_json) if @channel
+  def self.initialize_channel
+    @channel = EM::Channel.new
   end
+  
+  def self.push_to_clients(html)
+    @channel.push(html)
+  end
+  
+  def self.unsubscribe(sid)
+    @channel.unsubscribe(sid)
+  end
+  
+  
+  def self.subscribe
+    @channel.subscribe{ |msg| @ws.send msg }
+  end
+  
 end
+
diff --git a/lib/socket_render.rb b/lib/socket_render.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index 8d77f4c6a..000000000
--- a/lib/socket_render.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,40 +0,0 @@
-module SocketRenderer
- require 'app/helpers/application_helper' 
-  def self.instantiate_view
-    @view = ActionView::Base.new(ActionController::Base.view_paths, {})  
-    class << @view  
-      include ApplicationHelper 
-      include Rails.application.routes.url_helpers
-      include ActionController::RequestForgeryProtection::ClassMethods
-      def protect_against_forgery?
-        false
-      end
-    end
-  end
-
-  def self.view_hash(object)
-    begin
-      v = view_for(object) unless object.is_a? Retraction
-
-    rescue Exception => e
-      puts "in failzord " + v.inspect
-      puts object.inspect
-      puts e.message
-      raise e 
-    end
-
-    {:class =>object.class.to_s.underscore.pluralize, :html => v, :post_id => obj_id(object)}
-  end
-
-  def self.view_for(object)
-    @view.render @view.type_partial(object), :post  => object
-  end
-
-  def self.obj_id(object)
-    if object.is_a? Post
-      object.id
-    else 
-      object.post_id
-    end
-  end
-end
diff --git a/spec/controllers/socket_controller_spec.rb b/spec/controllers/socket_controller_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5f5a8b70f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/controllers/socket_controller_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../spec_helper'
+
+describe 'SocketController' do
+  render_views  
+  before do
+    @user = Factory.create(:user)
+    SocketController.unstub!(:new)
+    #EventMachine::WebSocket.stub!(:start)
+    @controller = SocketController.new
+    stub_socket_controller
+  end
+
+  it 'should unstub the websocket' do
+      WebSocket.initialize_channel
+      @controller.class.should == SocketController
+  end
+  
+  it 'should add a new subscriber to the websocket channel' do
+      WebSocket.initialize_channel
+      @controller.new_subscriber.should == 1
+  end
+  describe 'actionhash' do
+    before do
+      @message = Factory.create(:status_message, :person => @user)
+    end
+
+    it 'should actionhash posts' do
+      json = @controller.action_hash(@message)
+      json.include?(@message.message).should be_true
+      json.include?('status_message').should be_true
+    end
+
+    it 'should actionhash retractions' do
+      retraction = Retraction.for @message
+      json = @controller.action_hash(retraction)
+      json.include?('retraction').should be_true
+      json.include?("html\":null").should be_true
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/spec/factories.rb b/spec/factories.rb
index b208bc056..925f7c5be 100644
--- a/spec/factories.rb
+++ b/spec/factories.rb
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ Factory.define :user do |u|
   u.sequence(:email) {|n| "bob#{n}@aol.com"}
   u.password "bluepin7"
   u.password_confirmation "bluepin7"
+  u.url  "www.example.com"
   u.profile Profile.new( :first_name => "Bob", :last_name => "Smith" )
 end
 
diff --git a/spec/helpers/socket_helper_spec.rb b/spec/helpers/socket_helper_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..45c77f564
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/helpers/socket_helper_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../spec_helper'
+describe SocketHelper do
+
+end
diff --git a/spec/lib/message_handler_spec.rb b/spec/lib/message_handler_spec.rb
index ffb4b078c..88eda43de 100644
--- a/spec/lib/message_handler_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/message_handler_spec.rb
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ describe MessageHandler do
     @handler = MessageHandler.instance
     @message_body = "I want to pump you up" 
     @message_urls = ["http://www.google.com/", "http://yahoo.com/", "http://foo.com/"]
+
   end
 
   after do
diff --git a/spec/lib/socket_renderer_spec.rb b/spec/lib/socket_renderer_spec.rb
index 0b3e48505..009de8b78 100644
--- a/spec/lib/socket_renderer_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/socket_renderer_spec.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../spec_helper'
+=begin
+  require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../spec_helper'
 
 describe SocketRenderer do
   before do
@@ -20,3 +21,4 @@ describe SocketRenderer do
       hash[:class].should == "status_messages"
   end
 end
+=end
diff --git a/spec/spec_helper.rb b/spec/spec_helper.rb
index a72af5197..a4d470af2 100644
--- a/spec/spec_helper.rb
+++ b/spec/spec_helper.rb
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ RSpec.configure do |config|
 
   config.before(:each) do
     DatabaseCleaner.start
-    #WebSocket.stub!(:update_clients)
+    stub_socket_controller 
   end
 
   config.after(:each) do
@@ -32,3 +32,11 @@ RSpec.configure do |config|
   end
   
 end
+  def stub_socket_controller
+     mock_socket_controller = mock('socket mock')
+    mock_socket_controller.stub!(:incoming).and_return(true)
+    mock_socket_controller.stub!(:new_subscriber).and_return(true)
+    mock_socket_controller.stub!(:outgoing).and_return(true)
+    mock_socket_controller.stub!(:delete_subscriber).and_return(true)
+    SocketController.stub!(:new).and_return(mock_socket_controller)
+  end