diff --git a/lib/httparty.rb b/lib/httparty.rb
index b724824..8c2313c 100644
--- a/lib/httparty.rb
+++ b/lib/httparty.rb
@@ -1,14 +1,10 @@
+$:.unshift(File.dirname(__FILE__))
+
 require 'net/http'
 require 'net/https'
-require 'uri'
 require 'rubygems'
 require 'active_support'
-
-dir = File.dirname(__FILE__)
-$:.unshift(dir) unless $:.include?(dir) || $:.include?(File.expand_path(dir))
-
 require 'module_level_inheritable_attributes'
-require 'httparty/request'
 
 module HTTParty
   class UnsupportedFormat < StandardError; end
@@ -101,3 +97,5 @@ module HTTParty
     Basement.delete(*args)
   end
 end
+
+require 'httparty/request'
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/httparty/request.rb b/lib/httparty/request.rb
index 2b2c8aa..08ee3a5 100644
--- a/lib/httparty/request.rb
+++ b/lib/httparty/request.rb
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+require 'uri'
+
 module HTTParty
   class Request
     # Makes it so uri is sure to parse stuff like google.com without the http
diff --git a/spec/spec_helper.rb b/spec/spec_helper.rb
index 2985ee8..f435b41 100644
--- a/spec/spec_helper.rb
+++ b/spec/spec_helper.rb
@@ -1,11 +1,6 @@
-begin
-  require 'spec'
-rescue LoadError
-  require 'rubygems'
-  gem 'rspec'
-  require 'spec'
-end
-
+require 'rubygems'
+gem 'rspec'
+require 'spec'
 require File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), '..', 'lib', 'httparty')
 
 def file_fixture(filename)