diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 623aca3a1..18c09345a 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ source 'http://rubygems.org'
 gem 'mysql2', '0.2.6'
 #gem 'pg'
 #gem 'sqlite3'
-gem 'rails', '3.0.3'
+gem 'rails', '3.0.9'
 gem 'foreigner', '0.9.1'
 gem 'activerecord-import'
 
@@ -32,7 +32,8 @@ gem 'faraday'
 gem 'faraday-stack'
 
 #Views
-gem 'haml', '3.0.25'
+gem 'haml', '3.1.2'
+gem 'sass', '3.1.4'
 gem 'will_paginate', '3.0.pre2'
 
 #Localization
diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index 5c58dbded..a39dcb376 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -72,34 +72,41 @@ GEM
     Platform (0.4.0)
     SystemTimer (1.2.1)
     abstract (1.0.0)
-    actionmailer (3.0.3)
-      actionpack (= 3.0.3)
-      mail (~> 2.2.9)
-    actionpack (3.0.3)
-      activemodel (= 3.0.3)
-      activesupport (= 3.0.3)
+    actionmailer (3.0.9)
+      actionpack (= 3.0.9)
+      mail (~> 2.2.19)
+    actionpack (3.0.9)
+      activemodel (= 3.0.9)
+      activesupport (= 3.0.9)
       builder (~> 2.1.2)
       erubis (~> 2.6.6)
-      i18n (~> 0.4)
+      i18n (~> 0.5.0)
       rack (~> 1.2.1)
-      rack-mount (~> 0.6.13)
-      rack-test (~> 0.5.6)
+      rack-mount (~> 0.6.14)
+      rack-test (~> 0.5.7)
       tzinfo (~> 0.3.23)
-    activemodel (3.0.3)
-      activesupport (= 3.0.3)
+    activemodel (3.0.9)
+      activesupport (= 3.0.9)
       builder (~> 2.1.2)
-      i18n (~> 0.4)
-    activerecord (3.0.3)
-      activemodel (= 3.0.3)
-      activesupport (= 3.0.3)
-      arel (~> 2.0.2)
+      i18n (~> 0.5.0)
+    activerecord (3.0.9)
+      activemodel (= 3.0.9)
+      activesupport (= 3.0.9)
+      arel (~> 2.0.10)
       tzinfo (~> 0.3.23)
+<<<<<<< HEAD
     activerecord-import (0.2.7)
       activerecord (~> 3.0.0)
     activeresource (3.0.3)
       activemodel (= 3.0.3)
       activesupport (= 3.0.3)
     activesupport (3.0.3)
+=======
+    activeresource (3.0.9)
+      activemodel (= 3.0.9)
+      activesupport (= 3.0.9)
+    activesupport (3.0.9)
+>>>>>>> fixed the safe_buffer issues
     addressable (2.2.4)
     archive-tar-minitar (0.5.2)
     arel (2.0.10)
@@ -209,11 +216,11 @@ GEM
     gem_plugin (0.2.3)
     gherkin (2.3.10)
       json (>= 1.4.6)
-    haml (3.0.25)
+    haml (3.1.2)
     hashie (1.0.0)
     highline (1.6.2)
     http_connection (1.4.1)
-    i18n (0.6.0)
+    i18n (0.5.0)
     i18n-inflector (2.6.1)
       i18n (>= 0.4.1)
     i18n-inflector-rails (1.0.4)
@@ -328,25 +335,27 @@ GEM
       ruby-openid (>= 2.1.8)
     rack-test (0.5.7)
       rack (>= 1.0)
-    rails (3.0.3)
-      actionmailer (= 3.0.3)
-      actionpack (= 3.0.3)
-      activerecord (= 3.0.3)
-      activeresource (= 3.0.3)
-      activesupport (= 3.0.3)
+    rails (3.0.9)
+      actionmailer (= 3.0.9)
+      actionpack (= 3.0.9)
+      activerecord (= 3.0.9)
+      activeresource (= 3.0.9)
+      activesupport (= 3.0.9)
       bundler (~> 1.0)
-      railties (= 3.0.3)
+      railties (= 3.0.9)
     rails-i18n (0.1.0)
       activesupport (~> 3)
-    railties (3.0.3)
-      actionpack (= 3.0.3)
-      activesupport (= 3.0.3)
+    railties (3.0.9)
+      actionpack (= 3.0.9)
+      activesupport (= 3.0.9)
       rake (>= 0.8.7)
+      rdoc (~> 3.4)
       thor (~> 0.14.4)
     rake (0.9.2)
     rash (0.3.0)
       hashie (~> 1.0.0)
     rcov (0.9.9)
+    rdoc (3.8)
     redis (2.2.0)
     redis-namespace (0.8.0)
       redis (< 3.0.0)
@@ -396,6 +405,7 @@ GEM
       archive-tar-minitar (>= 0.5.2)
     rubyntlm (0.1.1)
     rubyzip (0.9.4)
+    sass (3.1.4)
     selenium-webdriver (0.2.2)
       childprocess (>= 0.1.9)
       ffi (>= 1.0.7)
@@ -475,7 +485,7 @@ DEPENDENCIES
   fog (= 0.3.25)
   foreigner (= 0.9.1)
   fuubar
-  haml (= 3.0.25)
+  haml (= 3.1.2)
   http_accept_language!
   i18n-inflector-rails (~> 1.0)
   jammit (= 0.5.4)
@@ -492,7 +502,7 @@ DEPENDENCIES
   oauth2-provider (= 0.0.16)
   ohai (= 0.5.8)
   omniauth (= 0.2.6)
-  rails (= 3.0.3)
+  rails (= 3.0.9)
   rails-i18n
   rcov
   resque (= 1.10.0)
@@ -505,6 +515,7 @@ DEPENDENCIES
   rspec-rails (>= 2.0.0)
   ruby-debug
   ruby-debug19
+  sass (= 3.1.4)
   selenium-webdriver (= 0.2.2)
   settingslogic (= 2.0.6)
   sod!
diff --git a/app/controllers/invitations_controller.rb b/app/controllers/invitations_controller.rb
index 39f4e891f..653d58660 100644
--- a/app/controllers/invitations_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/invitations_controller.rb
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ class InvitationsController < Devise::InvitationsController
       user.accept_invitation!(params[:user])
       user.seed_aspects
     rescue Exception => e #What exception is this trying to rescue?  If it is ActiveRecord::NotFound, we should say so.
+      raise e
       user = nil
       record = e.record
       record.errors.delete(:person)
diff --git a/app/helpers/markdownify_helper.rb b/app/helpers/markdownify_helper.rb
index 21aa70a73..edf3c7f74 100644
--- a/app/helpers/markdownify_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/markdownify_helper.rb
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 module MarkdownifyHelper
   def markdownify(message, options={})
-    message = h(message).html_safe
+    message = h(message).to_str
 
     options[:newlines] = true if !options.has_key?(:newlines)
     options[:specialchars] = true if !options.has_key?(:specialchars)
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ module MarkdownifyHelper
     message = process_specialchars(message) if options[:specialchars]
     message = process_newlines(message) if options[:newlines]
 
-    message
+    message.html_safe
   end
 
   def process_newlines(message)
@@ -132,4 +132,4 @@ module MarkdownifyHelper
     end
     message
   end
-end
\ No newline at end of file
+end
diff --git a/app/models/status_message.rb b/app/models/status_message.rb
index 3701d3066..f59f4fe06 100644
--- a/app/models/status_message.rb
+++ b/app/models/status_message.rb
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ class StatusMessage < Post
 
   def format_mentions(text, opts = {})
     regex = /@\{([^;]+); ([^\}]+)\}/
-    form_message = text.gsub(regex) do |matched_string|
+    form_message = text.to_str.gsub(regex) do |matched_string|
       people = self.mentioned_people
       person = people.detect{ |p|
         p.diaspora_handle == $~[2] unless p.nil?
diff --git a/config/initializers/locale.rb b/config/initializers/locale.rb
index 79a74a2ee..86ae3c07b 100644
--- a/config/initializers/locale.rb
+++ b/config/initializers/locale.rb
@@ -14,13 +14,3 @@ AVAILABLE_LANGUAGE_CODES.each do |c|
     I18n.fallbacks[c.to_sym] = [c.to_sym, DEFAULT_LANGUAGE.to_sym, :en]
   end
 end
-
-# Workaround for https://rails.lighthouseapp.com/projects/8994/tickets/5329-using-i18nwith_locale-in-actionmailer-raises-systemstackerror
-module AbstractController
-  class I18nProxy
-    def initialize(i18n_config, lookup_context)
-      @i18n_config, @lookup_context = i18n_config, lookup_context
-      @i18n_config = @i18n_config.i18n_config if @i18n_config.respond_to?(:i18n_config)
-    end
-  end
-end
diff --git a/lib/diaspora/taggable.rb b/lib/diaspora/taggable.rb
index 0c706a8eb..73f9d4b54 100644
--- a/lib/diaspora/taggable.rb
+++ b/lib/diaspora/taggable.rb
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ module Diaspora
       return text if opts[:plain_text]
       text = ERB::Util.h(text) unless opts[:no_escape]
       regex = /(^|\s)#(#{VALID_TAG_BODY})/
-      form_message = text.gsub(regex) do |matched_string|
+      form_message = text.to_str.gsub(regex) do |matched_string|
         "#{$~[1]}<a href=\"/tags/#{$~[2]}\" class=\"tag\">##{$~[2]}</a>"
       end
       form_message.html_safe