diff --git a/cloudbot.py b/cloudbot.py
index fd46814..7c7ae38 100644
--- a/cloudbot.py
+++ b/cloudbot.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ from core import bot
 
 import os
 import sys
+import time
 import signal
 
 # check python version 
@@ -27,8 +28,15 @@ def exit_gracefully(signum, frame):
 original_sigint = signal.getsignal(signal.SIGINT)
 signal.signal(signal.SIGINT, exit_gracefully)
 
-# create new bot object
-cloudbot = bot.Bot()
+# little restart loop
+while True:
+    # create new bot object
+    cloudbot = bot.Bot()
 
-# start the main loop
-cloudbot.run()
+    cloudbot.run()
+    if cloudbot.do_restart:
+        # this kills the bot
+        # TODO: make it not just kill the bot
+        sys.exit()
+    else:
+        sys.exit()
diff --git a/core/bot.py b/core/bot.py
index f742297..a1fc554 100644
--- a/core/bot.py
+++ b/core/bot.py
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 import time
 import logging
-import sys
 import re
 import os
 import Queue
@@ -46,6 +45,7 @@ class Bot(object):
         # basic variables
         self.start_time = time.time()
         self.running = True
+        self.do_restart = False
 
         # set up config and logging
         self.setup()
@@ -64,13 +64,13 @@ class Bot(object):
     def run(self):
         """recieves input from the IRC engine and processes it"""
         self.logger.info("Starting main thread.")
-        while True:
+        while self.running:
             for conn in self.connections.itervalues():
                 try:
                     incoming = conn.parsed_queue.get_nowait()
                     if incoming == StopIteration:
                         # IRC engine has signalled timeout, so reconnect (ugly)
-                        conn.reconnect()
+                        conn.connection.reconnect()
                     main.main(self, conn, incoming)
                 except Queue.Empty:
                     pass
@@ -123,7 +123,6 @@ class Bot(object):
     def stop(self, reason=None):
         """quits all networks and shuts the bot down"""
         self.logger.info("Stopping bot.")
-        self.running = False
 
         # wait for the bot loop to stop
         time.sleep(1)
@@ -145,4 +144,11 @@ class Bot(object):
 
         self.logger.debug("Logging engine stopped")
         logging.shutdown()
-        sys.exit()
+
+        self.running = False
+
+
+    def restart(self, reason=None):
+        """shuts the bot down and restarts it"""
+        self.do_restart = True
+        self.stop(reason)
diff --git a/core/irc.py b/core/irc.py
index 1ff2389..2708d1c 100755
--- a/core/irc.py
+++ b/core/irc.py
@@ -33,13 +33,13 @@ class ReceiveThread(threading.Thread):
         self.socket = socket
         self.timeout = timeout
 
+        self.shutdown = False
         threading.Thread.__init__(self)
 
     def recv_from_socket(self, nbytes):
         return self.socket.recv(nbytes)
 
     def handle_receive_exception(self, error, last_timestamp):
-        print error
         if time.time() - last_timestamp > self.timeout:
             self.input_queue.put(StopIteration)
             self.socket.close()
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ class ReceiveThread(threading.Thread):
 
     def run(self):
         last_timestamp = time.time()
-        while True:
+        while not self.shutdown:
             try:
                 data = self.recv_from_socket(4096)
                 self.input_buffer += data
@@ -180,7 +180,8 @@ class IRCConnection(object):
 
     def stop(self):
         self.send_thread.shutdown = True
-        time.sleep(.1)
+        self.receive_thread.shutdown = True
+        time.sleep(0.1)
         self.socket.close()
 
     def reconnect(self):
diff --git a/core/main.py b/core/main.py
index ade5657..faf2cbf 100755
--- a/core/main.py
+++ b/core/main.py
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ class Input(dict):
             """sends an ctcp to the current channel/user or a specific channel/user"""
             conn.ctcp(target, ctcp_type, message)
 
-        def notice(message, target=user):
+        def notice(message, target=nick):
             """sends a notice to the current channel/user or a specific channel/user"""
             conn.cmd('NOTICE', [target, message])