diff --git a/lib/http.js b/lib/http.js
index 6904fab22f..46c37ca390 100644
--- a/lib/http.js
+++ b/lib/http.js
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
-var debugLevel = 0;
-if ("NODE_DEBUG" in process.env) debugLevel = 1;
+var sys = require('sys');
 
-function debug (x) {
-  if (debugLevel > 0) {
-    process.binding('stdio').writeError(x + "\n");
-  }
+var debug;
+var debugLevel = parseInt(process.env.NODE_DEBUG, 16);
+if (debugLevel & 0x4) {
+  debug = function (x) { sys.error('HTTP: ' + x); };
+} else {
+  debug = function () { };
 }
 
-var sys = require('sys');
 var net = require('net');
 var Utf8Decoder = require('utf8decoder').Utf8Decoder;
 var events = require('events');
@@ -259,13 +259,13 @@ function OutgoingMessage (socket) {
   this.output = [];
   this.outputEncodings = [];
 
-  this.closeOnFinish = false;
+  this._last = false;
   this.chunkedEncoding = false;
   this.shouldKeepAlive = true;
   this.useChunkedEncodingByDefault = true;
 
-  this.flushing = false;
-  this.headWritten = false;
+  this._headerFlushed = false;
+  this._header = null; // to be filled by _storeHeader
 
   this._hasBody = true;
 
@@ -274,31 +274,45 @@ function OutgoingMessage (socket) {
 sys.inherits(OutgoingMessage, events.EventEmitter);
 exports.OutgoingMessage = OutgoingMessage;
 
+// This abstract either writing directly to the socket or buffering it.
+// Rename to _writeRaw() ?
 OutgoingMessage.prototype._send = function (data, encoding) {
-  var length = this.output.length;
+  if (this.connection._outgoing[0] === this &&
+      this.connection.writable &&
+      this.output.length === 0)
+  {
+    // Directly write to socket.
+    return this.connection.write(data, encoding);
+  } else {
+    // Buffer
+    var length = this.output.length;
+
+    if (length === 0 || typeof data != 'string') {
+      this.output.push(data);
+      encoding = encoding || "ascii";
+      this.outputEncodings.push(encoding);
+      return false;
+    }
+
+    var lastEncoding = this.outputEncodings[length-1];
+    var lastData = this.output[length-1];
+
+    if ((lastEncoding === encoding) ||
+        (!encoding && data.constructor === lastData.constructor)) {
+      this.output[length-1] = lastData + data;
+      return false;
+    }
 
-  if (length === 0 || typeof data != 'string') {
     this.output.push(data);
     encoding = encoding || "ascii";
     this.outputEncodings.push(encoding);
-    return;
-  }
-
-  var lastEncoding = this.outputEncodings[length-1];
-  var lastData = this.output[length-1];
 
-  if ((lastEncoding === encoding) ||
-      (!encoding && data.constructor === lastData.constructor)) {
-    this.output[length-1] = lastData + data;
-    return;
+    return false;
   }
-
-  this.output.push(data);
-  encoding = encoding || "ascii";
-  this.outputEncodings.push(encoding);
 };
 
-OutgoingMessage.prototype.sendHeaderLines = function (firstLine, headers) {
+
+OutgoingMessage.prototype._storeHeader = function (firstLine, headers) {
   var sentConnectionHeader = false;
   var sentContentLengthHeader = false;
   var sentTransferEncodingHeader = false;
@@ -325,7 +339,7 @@ OutgoingMessage.prototype.sendHeaderLines = function (firstLine, headers) {
 
       if (connectionExpression.test(field)) {
         sentConnectionHeader = true;
-        if (closeExpression.test(value)) this.closeOnFinish = true;
+        if (closeExpression.test(value)) this._last = true;
 
       } else if (transferEncodingExpression.test(field)) {
         sentTransferEncodingHeader = true;
@@ -344,7 +358,7 @@ OutgoingMessage.prototype.sendHeaderLines = function (firstLine, headers) {
         (sentContentLengthHeader || this.useChunkedEncodingByDefault)) {
       messageHeader += "Connection: keep-alive\r\n";
     } else {
-      this.closeOnFinish = true;
+      this._last = true;
       messageHeader += "Connection: close\r\n";
     }
   }
@@ -355,7 +369,7 @@ OutgoingMessage.prototype.sendHeaderLines = function (firstLine, headers) {
         messageHeader += "Transfer-Encoding: chunked\r\n";
         this.chunkedEncoding = true;
       } else {
-        this.closeOnFinish = true;
+        this._last = true;
       }
     } else {
       // Make sure we don't end the 0\r\n\r\n at the end of the message.
@@ -365,7 +379,7 @@ OutgoingMessage.prototype.sendHeaderLines = function (firstLine, headers) {
 
   messageHeader += CRLF;
 
-  this._send(messageHeader);
+  this._header = messageHeader;
   // wait until the first body chunk, or close(), is sent to flush.
 };
 
@@ -376,7 +390,7 @@ OutgoingMessage.prototype.sendBody = function () {
 
 
 OutgoingMessage.prototype.write = function (chunk, encoding) {
-  if ( (this instanceof ServerResponse) && !this.headWritten) {
+  if (!this._header) {
     throw new Error("writeHead() must be called before write()")
   }
 
@@ -390,28 +404,35 @@ OutgoingMessage.prototype.write = function (chunk, encoding) {
     throw new TypeError("first argument must be a string, Array, or Buffer");
   }
 
-  encoding = encoding || "ascii";
+  // write the header
+
+  if (!this._headerFlushed) {
+    this._send(this._header);
+    this._headerFlushed = true;
+  }
+
+  if (chunk.length === 0) return false;
+
+  var len, ret;
   if (this.chunkedEncoding) {
-    var chunkLength = (typeof chunk == 'string' ? process._byteLength(chunk, encoding) : chunk.length);
-    if (chunkLength > 0) {
-        this._send(chunkLength.toString(16));
-        this._send(CRLF);
-        this._send(chunk, encoding);
-        this._send(CRLF);
+    if (typeof(chunk) === 'string') {
+      len = Buffer.byteLength(chunk, encoding);
+      var chunk = len.toString(16) + CRLF + chunk + CRLF;
+      debug('string chunk = ' + sys.inspect(chunk));
+      ret = this._send(chunk, encoding);
+    } else {
+      // buffer
+      len = chunk.length;
+      this._send(len.toString(16) + CRLF);
+      this._send(chunk);
+      ret = this._send(CRLF);
     }
   } else {
-    this._send(chunk, encoding);
+    ret = this._send(chunk, encoding);
   }
 
-  if (this.flushing) {
-    this.flush();
-  } else {
-    this.flushing = true;
-  }
-};
-
-OutgoingMessage.prototype.flush = function () {
-  this._onFlush();
+  debug('write ret = ' + ret);
+  return ret;
 };
 
 OutgoingMessage.prototype.finish = function () {
@@ -429,10 +450,31 @@ OutgoingMessage.prototype.close = function (data, encoding) {
 };
 
 OutgoingMessage.prototype.end = function (data, encoding) {
-  if (data) this.write(data, encoding);
-  if (this.chunkedEncoding) this._send("0\r\n\r\n"); // last chunk
+  var ret;
+  // maybe the header hasn't been sent. if not send it.
+  if (!this._headerFlushed) {
+    ret = this._send(this._header);
+    this._headerFlushed = true;
+  }
+
+  if (data) {
+    ret = this.write(data, encoding);
+  }
+
   this.finished = true;
-  this.flush();
+
+  if (this.chunkedEncoding) {
+    ret = this._send("0\r\n\r\n"); // last chunk
+  }
+
+  // There is the first message on the outgoing queue, and we've sent
+  // everything to the socket.
+  if (this.output.length === 0 && this.connection._outgoing[0] === this) {
+    debug('outgoing message end. shifting because was flushed');
+    this.connection._onOutgoingSent();
+  }
+
+  return ret;
 };
 
 
@@ -479,8 +521,7 @@ ServerResponse.prototype.writeHead = function (statusCode) {
   }
 
 
-  this.sendHeaderLines(statusLine, headers);
-  this.headWritten = true;
+  this._storeHeader(statusLine, headers);
 };
 
 // TODO Eventually remove
@@ -510,9 +551,9 @@ function ClientRequest (socket, method, url, headers) {
   } else {
     this.useChunkedEncodingByDefault = true;
   }
-  this.closeOnFinish = true;
+  this._last = true;
 
-  this.sendHeaderLines(method + " " + url + " HTTP/1.1\r\n", headers);
+  this._storeHeader(method + " " + url + " HTTP/1.1\r\n", headers);
 }
 sys.inherits(ClientRequest, OutgoingMessage);
 exports.ClientRequest = ClientRequest;
@@ -531,49 +572,82 @@ ClientRequest.prototype.close = function () {
     clientRequestCloseWarning = "Warning: ClientRequest.prototype.close has been renamed to end()";
     sys.error(clientRequestCloseWarning);
   }
-  if (arguments.length > 0) {
-    throw new Error( "ClientRequest.prototype.end does not take any arguments. "
-                   + "Add a response listener manually to the request object."
+  if (typeof arguments[0] == "function") {
+    throw new Error( "ClientRequest.prototype.end does not take a callback. "
+                   + "Add a 'response' listener manually to the request object."
                    );
   }
   return this.end();
 };
 
 ClientRequest.prototype.end = function () {
-  if (arguments.length > 0) {
-    throw new Error( "ClientRequest.prototype.end does not take any arguments. "
-                   + "Add a response listener manually to the request object."
+  if (typeof arguments[0] == "function") {
+    throw new Error( "ClientRequest.prototype.end does not take a callback. "
+                   + "Add a 'response' listener manually to get the response."
                    );
   }
-  OutgoingMessage.prototype.end.call(this);
+  OutgoingMessage.prototype.end.apply(this, arguments);
 };
 
 
-/* Returns true if the message queue is finished and the socket
- * should be closed. */
-function flushMessageQueue (socket, queue) {
-  while (queue[0]) {
-    var message = queue[0];
-
-    while (message.output.length > 0) {
-      if (!socket.writable) return true;
-
-      var data = message.output.shift();
-      var encoding = message.outputEncodings.shift();
+function outgoingFlush (socket) {
+  // This logic is probably a bit confusing. Let me explain a bit:
+  //
+  // In both HTTP servers and clients it is possible to queue up several
+  // outgoing messages. This is easiest to imagine in the case of a client.
+  // Take the following situation:
+  //
+  //    req1 = client.request('GET', '/');
+  //    req2 = client.request('POST', '/');
+  //
+  // The question is what happens when the user does
+  //
+  //   req2.write("hello world\n");
+  //
+  // It's possible that the first request has not been completely flushed to
+  // the socket yet. Thus the outgoing messages need to be prepared to queue
+  // up data internally before sending it on further to the socket's queue.
+  //
+  // This function, outgoingFlush(), is called by both the Server
+  // implementation and the Client implementation to attempt to flush any
+  // pending messages out to the socket.
+  var message = socket._outgoing[0];
+
+  if (!message) return;
+
+  var ret;
+
+  while (message.output.length) {
+    if (!socket.writable) return; // XXX Necessary?
+
+    var data = message.output.shift();
+    var encoding = message.outputEncodings.shift();
+
+    ret = socket.write(data, encoding);
+  }
 
-      socket.write(data, encoding);
-    }
+  if (message.finished) {
+    socket._onOutgoingSent();
+  } else if (ret) {
+    message.emit('drain');
+  }
+}
 
-    if (!message.finished) break;
 
-    queue.shift();
+function httpSocketSetup (socket) {
+  // An array of outgoing messages for the socket. In pipelined connections
+  // we need to keep track of the order they were sent.
+  socket._outgoing = [];
 
-    if (message.closeOnFinish) return true;
-  }
-  return false;
+  // NOTE: be sure not to use ondrain elsewhere in this file!
+  socket.ondrain = function () {
+    var message = socket._outgoing[0];
+    if (message) message.emit('drain');
+  };
 }
 
 
+
 function Server (requestListener) {
   net.Server.call(this);
 
@@ -598,9 +672,10 @@ exports.createServer = function (requestListener) {
 
 function connectionListener (socket) {
   var self = this;
-  // An array of responses for each socket. In pipelined connections
-  // we need to keep track of the order they were sent.
-  var responses = [];
+
+  debug("new http connection");
+
+  httpSocketSetup(socket);
 
   socket.setTimeout(2*60*1000); // 2 minute timeout
   socket.addListener('timeout', function () {
@@ -646,13 +721,29 @@ function connectionListener (socket) {
   socket.onend = function () {
     parser.finish();
 
+    if (socket._outgoing.length) {
+      socket._outgoing[socket._outgoing.length-1]._last = true;
+      outgoingFlush(socket);
+    } else {
+      socket.end();
+    }
+  };
+
+  socket.addListener('close', function () {
     // unref the parser for easy gc
     parsers.free(parser);
+  });
 
-    if (responses.length == 0) {
+  // At the end of each response message, after it has been flushed to the
+  // socket.  Here we insert logic about what to do next.
+  socket._onOutgoingSent = function (message) {
+    var message = socket._outgoing.shift();
+    if (message._last) {
+      // No more messages to be pushed out.
       socket.end();
-    } else {
-      responses[responses.length-1].closeOnFinish = true;
+    } else if (socket._outgoing.length) {
+      // Push out the next message.
+      outgoingFlush(socket);
     }
   };
 
@@ -661,14 +752,9 @@ function connectionListener (socket) {
   // to the user.
   parser.onIncoming = function (req, shouldKeepAlive) {
     var res = new ServerResponse(req);
-
+    debug('server response shouldKeepAlive: ' + shouldKeepAlive);
     res.shouldKeepAlive = shouldKeepAlive;
-    res._onFlush = function () {
-      if (flushMessageQueue(socket, responses)) {
-        socket.end();
-      }
-    };
-    responses.push(res);
+    socket._outgoing.push(res);
 
     self.emit('request', req, res);
     return false; // Not a HEAD response. (Not even a response!)
@@ -678,56 +764,40 @@ function connectionListener (socket) {
 
 function Client ( ) {
   net.Stream.call(this);
-
   var self = this;
 
-  var requests = [];
-  var currentRequest;
+  httpSocketSetup(self);
+
   var parser;
 
-  self._initParser = function () {
+  function initParser () {
     if (!parser) parser = parsers.alloc();
     parser.reinitialize('response');
     parser.socket = self;
-    parser.reqs = []; // list of request methods
     parser.onIncoming = function (res) {
       debug("incoming response!");
 
-      var isHeadResponse = currentRequest.method == "HEAD";
+      var req = self._outgoing[0];
+
+      // Responses to HEAD requests are AWFUL. Ask Ryan.
+      // A major oversight in HTTP. Hence this nastiness.
+      var isHeadResponse = req.method == "HEAD";
       debug('isHeadResponse ' + isHeadResponse);
 
       res.addListener('end', function ( ) {
         debug("request complete disconnecting. readyState = " + self.readyState);
+        // For the moment we reconnect for every request. FIXME!
+        // All that should be required for keep-alive is to not reconnect,
+        // but outgoingFlush instead.
         self.end();
       });
 
-      currentRequest.emit("response", res);
+      req.emit("response", res);
 
       return isHeadResponse;
     };
   };
 
-  self._reconnect = function () {
-    if (self.readyState != "opening") {
-      debug("HTTP CLIENT: reconnecting readyState = " + self.readyState);
-      self.connect(self.port, self.host);
-    }
-  };
-
-  self._pushRequest = function (req) {
-    req._onFlush = function () {
-      if (self.readyState == "closed") {
-        debug("HTTP CLIENT request flush. reconnect.  readyState = " + self.readyState);
-        self._reconnect();
-        return;
-      }
-
-      debug("self flush  readyState = " + self.readyState);
-      if (req == currentRequest) flushMessageQueue(self, [req]);
-    };
-    requests.push(req);
-  };
-
   self.ondata = function (d, start, end) {
     if (!parser) {
       throw new Error("parser not initialized prior to Client.ondata call");
@@ -739,29 +809,27 @@ function Client ( ) {
       var bytesParsed = ret;
       var upgradeHead = d.slice(start + bytesParsed, end - start);
       parser.incoming.upgradeHead = upgradeHead;
-      currentRequest.emit("response", parser.incoming);
-      parser.incoming.emit('end');
+      var req = self._outgoing[0];
       self.ondata = null;
       self.onend = null
     }
   };
 
   self.addListener("connect", function () {
+    debug('client connected');
     if (this.https) {
       this.setSecure(this.credentials);
     } else {
-      self._initParser();
-      debug('requests: ' + sys.inspect(requests));
-      currentRequest = requests.shift()
-      currentRequest.flush();
+      initParser();
+      debug('requests: ' + sys.inspect(self._outgoing));
+      outgoingFlush(self);
     }
   });
 
   self.addListener("secure", function () {
-    self._initParser();
-    debug('requests: ' + sys.inspect(requests));
-    currentRequest = requests.shift()
-    currentRequest.flush();
+    initParser();
+    debug('requests: ' + sys.inspect(self._outgoing));
+    outgoingFlush(self);
   });
 
   self.onend = function () {
@@ -775,28 +843,64 @@ function Client ( ) {
 
     debug("HTTP CLIENT onClose. readyState = " + self.readyState);
 
+    // finally done with the request
+    self._outgoing.shift();
+
     // If there are more requests to handle, reconnect.
-    if (requests.length > 0) {
+    if (self._outgoing.length) {
       self._reconnect();
     } else if (parser) {
       parsers.free(parser);
       parser = null;
     }
   });
-
 };
 sys.inherits(Client, net.Stream);
 
 exports.Client = Client;
 
 exports.createClient = function (port, host, https, credentials) {
-  var c = new Client;
+  var c = new Client();
   c.port = port;
   c.host = host;
   c.https = https;
   c.credentials = credentials;
   return c;
-}
+};
+
+
+// This is called each time a request has been pushed completely to the
+// socket. The message that was sent is still sitting at client._outgoing[0]
+// it is our responsibility to shift it off.
+//
+// We have to be careful when it we shift it because once we do any writes
+// to other requests will be flushed directly to the socket.
+//
+// At the moment we're implement a client which connects and disconnects on
+// each request/response cycle so we cannot shift off the request from
+// client._outgoing until we're completely disconnected after the response
+// comes back.
+Client.prototype._onOutgoingSent = function (message) {
+  // We've just finished a message. We don't end/shutdown the connection here
+  // because HTTP servers typically cannot handle half-closed connections
+  // (Node servers can).
+  //
+  // Instead, we just check if the connection is closed, and if so
+  // reconnect if we have pending messages.
+  if (this._outgoing.length && this.readyState == "closed") {
+    debug("HTTP client request flush. reconnect.  readyState = " + this.readyState);
+    this._reconnect();
+  }
+};
+
+
+Client.prototype._reconnect = function () {
+  if (this.readyState === "closed") {
+    debug("HTTP CLIENT: reconnecting readyState = " + this.readyState);
+    this.connect(this.port, this.host);
+  }
+};
+
 
 Client.prototype.get = function () {
   throw new Error("client.get(...) is now client.request('GET', ...)");
@@ -819,13 +923,15 @@ Client.prototype.put = function () {
 };
 
 Client.prototype.request = function (method, url, headers) {
-  if (typeof(url) != "string") { // assume method was omitted, shift arguments
+  if (typeof(url) != "string") {
+    // assume method was omitted, shift arguments
     headers = url;
     url = method;
-    method = null;
+    method = "GET";
   }
-  var req = new ClientRequest(this, method || "GET", url, headers);
-  this._pushRequest(req);
+  var req = new ClientRequest(this, method, url, headers);
+  this._outgoing.push(req);
+  if (this.readyState === 'closed') this._reconnect();
   return req;
 };
 
diff --git a/lib/module.js b/lib/module.js
index 386d796b48..2c867528dc 100644
--- a/lib/module.js
+++ b/lib/module.js
@@ -63,9 +63,9 @@ var events = eventsModule.exports;
 
 // Modules
 
-var debugLevel = parseInt(process.env["NODE_DEBUG"]);
+var debugLevel = parseInt(process.env["NODE_DEBUG"], 16);
 function debug (x) {
-  if (debugLevel > 0) {
+  if (debugLevel & 1) {
     process.binding('stdio').writeError(x + "\n");
   }
 }
diff --git a/lib/net.js b/lib/net.js
index 4c9c525966..ce0961a92e 100644
--- a/lib/net.js
+++ b/lib/net.js
@@ -7,9 +7,9 @@ var dns = require('dns');
 var kMinPoolSpace = 128;
 var kPoolSize = 40*1024;
 
-var debugLevel = process.env['NODE_DEBUG'] ? 1 : 0;
+var debugLevel = parseInt(process.env.NODE_DEBUG, 16);
 function debug () {
-  if (debugLevel > 0) sys.error.apply(this, arguments);
+  if (debugLevel & 0x2) sys.error.apply(this, arguments);
 }
 var binding = process.binding('net');
 
diff --git a/test/simple/test-http-304.js b/test/simple/test-http-304.js
index 92eb2a631e..896c932141 100644
--- a/test/simple/test-http-304.js
+++ b/test/simple/test-http-304.js
@@ -13,10 +13,11 @@ sys.puts('Server running at http://127.0.0.1:'+PORT+'/')
 
 s.addListener('listening', function () {
 
-  childProcess.exec('curl http://127.0.0.1:'+PORT+'/', function (err, stdout, stderr) {
+  childProcess.exec('curl -i http://127.0.0.1:'+PORT+'/', function (err, stdout, stderr) {
     if (err) throw err;
     s.close();
-    sys.puts('curled response correctly');
+    error('curled response correctly');
+    error(sys.inspect(stdout));
   });
 
 });
diff --git a/test/simple/test-http-client-upload.js b/test/simple/test-http-client-upload.js
index ce7887a7ce..bdc1f2d674 100644
--- a/test/simple/test-http-client-upload.js
+++ b/test/simple/test-http-client-upload.js
@@ -30,8 +30,10 @@ var req = client.request('POST', '/');
 req.write('1\n');
 req.write('2\n');
 req.write('3\n');
+req.end();
+
+error("client finished sending request");
 
-puts("client finished sending request");
 req.addListener('response', function(res) {
   res.setEncoding("utf8");
   res.addListener('data', function(chunk) {
@@ -42,7 +44,6 @@ req.addListener('response', function(res) {
     server.close();
   });
 });
-req.end();
 
 process.addListener("exit", function () {
   assert.equal("1\n2\n3\n", sent_body);
diff --git a/test/simple/test-http-server.js b/test/simple/test-http-server.js
index ec249570ef..97480f9395 100644
--- a/test/simple/test-http-server.js
+++ b/test/simple/test-http-server.js
@@ -21,18 +21,21 @@ http.createServer(function (req, res) {
   }
 
   if (req.id == 1) {
+    error("req 1");
     assert.equal("POST", req.method);
     assert.equal("/quit", url.parse(req.url).pathname);
   }
 
   if (req.id == 2) {
+    error("req 2");
     assert.equal("foo", req.headers['x-x']);
   }
 
   if (req.id == 3) {
+    error("req 3");
     assert.equal("bar", req.headers['x-x']);
     this.close();
-    //puts("server closed");
+    error("server closed");
   }
 
   setTimeout(function () {
diff --git a/test/simple/test-http.js b/test/simple/test-http.js
index f1da37c7ca..8aab058f40 100644
--- a/test/simple/test-http.js
+++ b/test/simple/test-http.js
@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@ require("../common");
 http = require("http");
 url = require("url");
 
+function p (x) {
+  error(inspect(x));
+}
+
 var responses_sent = 0;
 var responses_recvd = 0;
 var body0 = "";
@@ -38,14 +42,14 @@ http.createServer(function (req, res) {
 
 var client = http.createClient(PORT);
 var req = client.request("/hello", {"Accept": "*/*", "Foo": "bar"});
+req.end();
 req.addListener('response', function (res) {
   assert.equal(200, res.statusCode);
   responses_recvd += 1;
-  res.setBodyEncoding("ascii");
+  res.setEncoding("utf8");
   res.addListener('data', function (chunk) { body0 += chunk; });
   debug("Got /hello response");
 });
-req.end();
 
 setTimeout(function () {
   req = client.request("POST", "/world");