diff --git a/logging.cfg.template b/doc/logging.cfg.template
similarity index 100%
rename from logging.cfg.template
rename to doc/logging.cfg.template
diff --git a/pox.py b/pox.py
index a22d95e7b..8b66ce122 100755
--- a/pox.py
+++ b/pox.py
@@ -334,11 +334,15 @@ def setup_logging(log_config="logging.cfg", fail_if_non_existent=False):
     logging.config.fileConfig(log_config)
   else:
     if fail_if_non_existent:
-      raise IOError("Could not find logging config file: %s" % log_config)
-
-    _default_log_handler = logging.StreamHandler()
-    _default_log_handler.setFormatter(logging.Formatter(logging.BASIC_FORMAT))
-    logging.getLogger().addHandler(_default_log_handler)
+      raise IOError("Could not find logging config file: %s" % (log_config,))
+
+    # This is kind of a hack, but we need to keep track of the handler we
+    # install so that we can, for example, uninstall it later.  This code
+    # originally lived in pox.core, so we explicitly reference it here.
+    pox.core._default_log_handler = logging.StreamHandler()
+    formatter = logging.Formatter(logging.BASIC_FORMAT)
+    pox.core._default_log_handler.setFormatter(formatter)
+    logging.getLogger().addHandler(pox.core._default_log_handler)
     logging.getLogger().setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
 
 def main ():
diff --git a/pox/lib/ioworker/io_worker.py b/pox/lib/ioworker/io_worker.py
index f00085d64..1b308fe80 100644
--- a/pox/lib/ioworker/io_worker.py
+++ b/pox/lib/ioworker/io_worker.py
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ def __init__(self):
     self._on_data_receive = lambda worker: None
 
   def set_receive_handler(self, block):
+    """ Cause us to call the given block whenever data is ready to be read """
     self._on_data_receive = block
 
   def send(self, data):
@@ -32,28 +33,34 @@ def send(self, data):
     assert_type("data", data, [bytes], none_ok=False)
     self.send_buf += data
 
-  def push_receive_data(self, new_data):
-    """ notify client of new received data. called by a Select loop """
+  def _push_receive_data(self, new_data):
+    # notify client of new received data. called by a Select loop
     self.receive_buf += new_data
     self._on_data_receive(self)
 
   def peek_receive_buf(self):
+    """ Grab the receive buffer. Don't modify it! """
     return self.receive_buf
 
   def consume_receive_buf(self, l):
-    """ called from the client to consume receive buffer """
+    """ Consume receive buffer """
+    # called from the client 
     assert(len(self.receive_buf) >= l)
     self.receive_buf = self.receive_buf[l:]
 
   @property
-  def ready_to_send(self):
+  def _ready_to_send(self):
+    # called by Select loop
     return len(self.send_buf) > 0
 
-  def consume_send_buf(self, l):
+  def _consume_send_buf(self, l):
+    # Throw out the first l bytes of the send buffer 
+    # Called by Select loop
     assert(len(self.send_buf)>=l)
     self.send_buf = self.send_buf[l:]
 
   def close(self):
+    """ Close this socket """
     pass
 
 class RecocoIOWorker(IOWorker):
@@ -62,20 +69,25 @@ def __init__(self, socket, pinger, on_close):
     IOWorker.__init__(self)
     self.socket = socket
     self.pinger = pinger
+    # (on_close factory method hides details of the Select loop) 
     self.on_close = on_close
 
   def fileno(self):
+    """ Return the wrapped sockets' fileno """
     return self.socket.fileno()
 
   def send(self, data):
+    """ send data from the client side. fire and forget. """
     IOWorker.send(self, data)
     self.pinger.ping()
 
   def close(self):
+    """ Register this socket to be closed. fire and forget """
+    # (don't close until Select loop is ready) 
     IOWorker.close(self)
     # on_close is a function not a method
     self.on_close(self)
-
+    
 class RecocoIOLoop(Task):
   """
   recoco task that handles the actual IO for our IO workers
@@ -85,27 +97,37 @@ class RecocoIOLoop(Task):
 
   def __init__ (self):
     Task.__init__(self)
-    self.workers = set()
+    self._workers = set()
     self.pinger = makePinger()
-    # socket.close() must be performed by this Select task -- otherwise
-    # we'll end up blocking on socket that doesn't exist.
-    self.pending_worker_closes = []
+    # socket.open() and socket.close() are performed by this Select task
+    # other threads register open() and close() requests by adding lambdas
+    # to this thread-safe queue.
+    self._pending_commands = Queue.Queue()
 
   def create_worker_for_socket(self, socket):
+    '''
+    Return an IOWorker wrapping the given socket.
+    '''
+    # Called from external threads.
+    # Does not register the IOWorker immediately with the select loop --
+    # rather, adds a command to the pending queue
+    
+    # Our callback for io_worker.close():
     def on_close(worker):
-      ''' callback for io_worker.close() '''
-      self.pending_worker_closes.append(worker)
+      def close_worker(worker):
+        # Actually close the worker (called by Select loop)
+        worker.socket.close()
+        self._workers.discard(worker)
+      # schedule close_worker to be called by Select loop
+      self._pending_commands.put(lambda: close_worker(worker))
       self.pinger.ping()
+      
     worker = RecocoIOWorker(socket, pinger=self.pinger, on_close=on_close)
-    self.workers.add(worker)
+    # Don't add immediately, since we're in the wrong thread
+    self._pending_commands.put(lambda: self._workers.add(worker))
     self.pinger.ping()
     return worker
-    
-  def _close_worker(self, worker):
-    ''' only called by our Select task ''' 
-    worker.socket.close()
-    self.workers.discard(worker)
-    
+     
   def stop(self):
     self.running = False
     self.pinger.ping()
@@ -114,15 +136,14 @@ def run (self):
     self.running = True
     while self.running:
       try:
-        # First, close and pending sockets
-        for io_worker in self.pending_worker_closes:
-          self._close_worker(io_worker)
-        self.pending_socket_closes = []
+        # First, execute pending commands
+        while not self._pending_commands.empty():
+          self._pending_commands.get()()
         
-        # Now grab remaining workers
-        read_sockets = list(self.workers) + [ self.pinger ]
-        write_sockets = [ worker for worker in self.workers if worker.ready_to_send ]
-        exception_sockets = list(self.workers)
+        # Now grab workers
+        read_sockets = list(self._workers) + [ self.pinger ]
+        write_sockets = [ worker for worker in self._workers if worker._ready_to_send ]
+        exception_sockets = list(self._workers)
 
         rlist, wlist, elist = yield Select(read_sockets, write_sockets,
                 exception_sockets, self._select_timeout)
@@ -133,28 +154,28 @@ def run (self):
 
         for worker in elist:
           worker.close()
-          if worker in self.workers:
-            self.workers.remove(worker)
+          if worker in self._workers:
+            self._workers.remove(worker)
 
         for worker in rlist:
           try:
             data = worker.socket.recv(self._BUF_SIZE)
-            worker.push_receive_data(data)
+            worker._push_receive_data(data)
           except socket.error as (s_errno, strerror):
             log.error("Socket error: " + strerror)
             worker.close()
-            self.workers.discard(worker)
+            self._workers.discard(worker)
 
         for worker in wlist:
           try:
             l = worker.socket.send(worker.send_buf)
             if l > 0:
-              worker.consume_send_buf(l)
+              worker._consume_send_buf(l)
           except socket.error as (s_errno, strerror):
             if s_errno != errno.EAGAIN:
               log.error("Socket error: " + strerror)
               worker.close()
-              self.workers.discard(worker)
+              self._workers.discard(worker)
 
       except exceptions.KeyboardInterrupt:
         break
diff --git a/pox/samples/pretty_log.py b/pox/samples/pretty_log.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ef4796077
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pox/samples/pretty_log.py
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+# Copyright 2012 James McCauley
+#
+# This file is part of POX.
+#
+# POX is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# POX is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with POX.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+"""
+This is a very simple component which provides some kind of nice
+log formatting.
+
+It demonstrates launching another component (there should eventually
+be a nice interface for doing this), and formatting color log messages.
+"""
+
+def launch ():
+  import pox.log.color
+  pox.log.color.launch()
+  import pox.log
+  pox.log.launch(format="[@@@bold@@@level%(name)-22s@@@reset] " +
+                        "@@@bold%(message)s@@@normal")
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/tests/setup.cfg
similarity index 100%
rename from setup.cfg
rename to tests/setup.cfg
diff --git a/tests/unit/lib/ioworker/io_worker_test.py b/tests/unit/lib/ioworker/io_worker_test.py
index 7e48d9b3e..61388464f 100644
--- a/tests/unit/lib/ioworker/io_worker_test.py
+++ b/tests/unit/lib/ioworker/io_worker_test.py
@@ -16,10 +16,10 @@ class IOWorkerTest(unittest.TestCase):
   def test_basic_send(self):
     i = IOWorker()
     i.send("foo")
-    self.assertTrue(i.ready_to_send)
+    self.assertTrue(i._ready_to_send)
     self.assertEqual(i.send_buf, "foo")
-    i.consume_send_buf(3)
-    self.assertFalse(i.ready_to_send)
+    i._consume_send_buf(3)
+    self.assertFalse(i._ready_to_send)
 
   def test_basic_receive(self):
     i = IOWorker()
@@ -27,10 +27,10 @@ def test_basic_receive(self):
     def d(worker):
       self.data = worker.peek_receive_buf()
     i.set_receive_handler(d)
-    i.push_receive_data("bar")
+    i._push_receive_data("bar")
     self.assertEqual(self.data, "bar")
     # d does not consume the data
-    i.push_receive_data("hepp")
+    i._push_receive_data("hepp")
     self.assertEqual(self.data, "barhepp")
 
   def test_receive_consume(self):
@@ -40,10 +40,10 @@ def consume(worker):
       self.data = worker.peek_receive_buf()
       worker.consume_receive_buf(len(self.data))
     i.set_receive_handler(consume)
-    i.push_receive_data("bar")
+    i._push_receive_data("bar")
     self.assertEqual(self.data, "bar")
     # data has been consumed
-    i.push_receive_data("hepp")
+    i._push_receive_data("hepp")
     self.assertEqual(self.data, "hepp")
 
 
@@ -88,13 +88,14 @@ def test_run_close(self):
     (left, right) = MockSocket.pair()
     worker = loop.create_worker_for_socket(left)
 
-    self.assertTrue(worker in loop.workers)
+    self.assertFalse(worker in loop._workers,  "Should not add to _workers yet, until we start up the loop")
+    self.assertTrue(loop._pending_commands.qsize() == 1, "Should have added pending create() command")
     worker.close()
     # This causes the worker to be scheduled to be closed -- it also 
     # calls pinger.ping(). However, the Select task won't receive the ping
     # Until after this method has completed! Thus, we only test whether
     # worker has been added to the pending close queue
-    self.assertTrue(worker in loop.pending_worker_closes)
+    self.assertTrue(loop._pending_commands.qsize() == 2, "Should have added pending close() command")
 
   def test_run_write(self):
     loop = RecocoIOLoop()