diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 0db9350fa..2bc47e6ce 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ gem 'eventmachine'
 gem 'amqp'
 gem 'tire'
 gem 'will_paginate'
+gem 'actionmailer'
+gem 'sendgrid'
 
 group :test do
   gem 'jam_db', :path=> "#{workspace}/jam-db/target/ruby_package"
diff --git a/lib/jam_ruby.rb b/lib/jam_ruby.rb
index c930bbac8..dfbb727ff 100644
--- a/lib/jam_ruby.rb
+++ b/lib/jam_ruby.rb
@@ -6,13 +6,19 @@ require "logging"
 require "tire"
 require "will_paginate"
 require "will_paginate/active_record"
+require "action_mailer"
+require "sendgrid"
 require "jam_ruby/errors/permission_error"
 require "jam_ruby/errors/state_error"
 require "jam_ruby/errors/jam_argument_error"
 require "jam_ruby/mq_router"
+require "jam_ruby/base_manager"
+require "jam_ruby/user_manager"
 require "jam_ruby/connection_manager"
 require "jam_ruby/version"
 require "jam_ruby/environment"
+require "jam_ruby/init"
+require "jam_ruby/app/mailers/user_mailer"
 require "jam_ruby/tire_tasks"
 require "jam_ruby/message_factory"
 require "jam_ruby/models/genre"
diff --git a/lib/jam_ruby/connection_manager.rb b/lib/jam_ruby/connection_manager.rb
index d3adb12a6..0ba6111e3 100644
--- a/lib/jam_ruby/connection_manager.rb
+++ b/lib/jam_ruby/connection_manager.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 module JamRuby
-# All writes should occur through the ConnectionManager
+# All writes should occur through the ConnectionManager for the connection table 
 # Reads can occur freely elsewhere, though
 # Because connections are tied to the websocket-connection and we bookkeep them in the database purely
 # for 'SQL convenience', this is a obvious place we can go away from a database
@@ -11,19 +11,15 @@ module JamRuby
 # This may make sense in the short term if we are still managing connections in the database, but
 # we move to the node-js in the websocket gateway (because the websocket gateway needs to call some of these methods).
 # Or of course we could just port the relevant methods to node-js
-  class ConnectionManager
+  class ConnectionManager < BaseManager
 
-    attr_accessor :mq_router, :pg_conn
+    attr_accessor :mq_router
 
     def initialize(options={})
+      super(options)
       @log = Logging.logger[self]
       @mq_router = MQRouter.new
-      @pg_conn = options[:conn]
       @message_factory = MessageFactory.new
-
-      unless PG.threadsafe?
-        raise Exception, "a non-threadsafe build of libpq is present."
-      end
     end
 
     def update_staleness()
@@ -248,20 +244,6 @@ module JamRuby
       return friend_ids
     end
 
-    # Creates a connection manager, and associates the connection created by active_record with ourselves
-    def self.active_record_transaction(&block)
 
-      connection_manager = ConnectionManager.new
-      ActiveRecord::Base.connection_pool.with_connection do |connection|
-        # create a transaction, and pass the current connection to ConnectionManager.
-        # this lets the entire operation work with the same transaction,
-        # across Rails ActiveRecord and the pg-gem based code in ConnectionManager.
-        connection_manager.pg_conn = connection.instance_variable_get("@connection")
-
-        connection.transaction do
-          block.call(connection_manager)
-        end
-      end
-    end
   end
 end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/spec/spec_helper.rb b/spec/spec_helper.rb
index bef938bf1..d7084d430 100644
--- a/spec/spec_helper.rb
+++ b/spec/spec_helper.rb
@@ -19,6 +19,9 @@ require 'factories'
 include JamRuby
 
 
+# put ActionMailer into test mode
+ActionMailer::Base.delivery_method = :test
+
 #uncomment the following line to use spork with the debugger
 #require 'spork/ext/ruby-debug'