diff --git a/admin/app/admin/feeds.rb b/admin/app/admin/feeds.rb
index 6c5b06aad..da8fde49a 100644
--- a/admin/app/admin/feeds.rb
+++ b/admin/app/admin/feeds.rb
@@ -198,9 +198,9 @@ ActiveAdmin.register_page 'Feed' do
               column :creator
               column :data do |d|
                 span style: "white-space: pre;" do
-                  if JSON.parse(d.data).all?
+                  begin
                     JSON.pretty_generate(JSON.parse(d.data))
-                  else
+                  rescue
                     d.data
                   end
                 end
diff --git a/admin/app/admin/jam_ruby_users.rb b/admin/app/admin/jam_ruby_users.rb
index fa2ae8051..79f138df0 100644
--- a/admin/app/admin/jam_ruby_users.rb
+++ b/admin/app/admin/jam_ruby_users.rb
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ ActiveAdmin.register JamRuby::User, :as => 'Users' do
     autocomplete :user, :email, :full => true, :display_value => :autocomplete_display_name
 
     def get_autocomplete_items(parameters)
-      items = User.select("DISTINCT email, first_name, last_name, id").where(["email ILIKE ? OR first_name ILIKE ? OR last_name ILIKE ?", "%#{parameters[:term]}%", "%#{parameters[:term]}%", "%#{parameters[:term]}%"])
+      User.select("email, first_name, last_name, id").where(["email ILIKE ? OR first_name ILIKE ? OR last_name ILIKE ?", "%#{parameters[:term]}%", "%#{parameters[:term]}%", "%#{parameters[:term]}%"])
     end
 
     def create
diff --git a/admin/spec/factories.rb b/admin/spec/factories.rb
index bc3ac8ecf..bb947342b 100644
--- a/admin/spec/factories.rb
+++ b/admin/spec/factories.rb
@@ -94,8 +94,8 @@ FactoryGirl.define do
     association :music_session,   factory: :active_music_session
 
     factory :recording_with_track do
-      before(:create) { |recording|
-        recording.recorded_tracks << FactoryGirl.create(:recorded_track, recording: recording, user: recording.owner)
+      before(:create) { |recording, evaluator|
+        recording.recorded_tracks << FactoryGirl.create(:recorded_track, recording: recording, user: evaluator.owner)
       }
     end
   end
diff --git a/admin/spec/features/feeds_spec.rb b/admin/spec/features/feeds_spec.rb
index 023263755..43505703a 100644
--- a/admin/spec/features/feeds_spec.rb
+++ b/admin/spec/features/feeds_spec.rb
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ describe 'Feeds' do
   let(:user) { FactoryGirl.create(:user) }
 
   let(:music_session) { FactoryGirl.create(:music_session, :creator => user) }
-  let(:recording)     { FactoryGirl.create(:recording, :owner => user) }
+  let(:recording)     { FactoryGirl.create(:recording_with_track, :owner => user) }
   let(:diagnostic)    { FactoryGirl.create(:diagnostic, :user => user) }
 
   context 'empty dashboard' do
@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@ describe 'Feeds' do
     end
 
     it 'auto-completes with email + full name', :js => true do
-      pending "Test not complete"
 
       within('form.feed') do
         fill_in 'feed_user', with: user.email[0..3]
@@ -48,10 +47,9 @@ describe 'Feeds' do
 
       page.execute_script %Q{ $('form.feed input#feed_user').trigger('focus') }
       page.execute_script %Q{ $('form.feed input#feed_user').trigger('keydown') }
-      sleep 5
       find('a.ui-corner-all', text: user.to_label).trigger(:click)
       should have_selector('form.feed #feed_user', user.to_label)
-      should have_selector('form.feed #feed_user_id', user.id)
+      should have_selector('form.feed #feed_user_id[value="' + user.id + '"]', visible:false)
     end
   end
 
@@ -59,34 +57,29 @@ describe 'Feeds' do
     before(:each) do
       music_session.touch
       recording.touch
-      # diagnostic.touch #this factory's 'data' element is causing an exception (see factories.rb)
+      diagnostic.touch
       visit admin_feed_path
     end
 
     it 'shows session, recording, diagnostic' do
-      pending "Test not complete"
-
       should have_selector("tr#jam_ruby_music_session_#{music_session.id}")
       should have_selector("tr#jam_ruby_recording_#{recording.id}")
       should have_selector("tr#jam_ruby_diagnostic_#{diagnostic.id}")
     end
 
     it 'shows activities for one user', :js => true do
-      pending "Test not complete"
-
       within('form.feed') do
         fill_in 'feed_user', with: user.email[0..3]
       end
 
       page.execute_script %Q{ $('form.feed input#feed_user').trigger('focus') }
       page.execute_script %Q{ $('form.feed input#feed_user').trigger('keydown') }
-      sleep 5
       find('a.ui-corner-all', text: user.to_label).trigger(:click)
       should have_selector('form.feed #feed_user', user.to_label)
-      should have_selector('form.feed #feed_user_id', user.id)
-
-      find('form.feed').trigger(:submit)
+      should have_selector('form.feed #feed_user_id[value="' + user.id + '"]', visible:false)
 
+      page.execute_script %Q{ $('form.feed').trigger('submit') }
+      
       should have_selector("tr#jam_ruby_music_session_#{music_session.id}")
       should have_selector("tr#jam_ruby_recording_#{recording.id}")
       should have_selector("tr#jam_ruby_diagnostic_#{diagnostic.id}")
diff --git a/admin/spec/spec_helper.rb b/admin/spec/spec_helper.rb
index 6f8ef3d04..d3e24c62a 100644
--- a/admin/spec/spec_helper.rb
+++ b/admin/spec/spec_helper.rb
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ RSpec.configure do |config|
   # If you're not using ActiveRecord, or you'd prefer not to run each of your
   # examples within a transaction, remove the following line or assign false
   # instead of true.
-  config.use_transactional_fixtures = true
+  config.use_transactional_fixtures = false
 
   # If true, the base class of anonymous controllers will be inferred
   # automatically. This will be the default behavior in future versions of