diff --git a/lib/sidekiq/cli.rb b/lib/sidekiq/cli.rb
index c7b8c270..93cb163f 100644
--- a/lib/sidekiq/cli.rb
+++ b/lib/sidekiq/cli.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 require 'optparse'
 require 'sidekiq'
 require 'sidekiq/server'
+require 'connection_pool'
 
 module Sidekiq
   class CLI
@@ -12,14 +13,17 @@ module Sidekiq
       boot_rails
     end
 
+    FOREVER = 2_000_000_000
+
     def run
       write_pid if @options[:daemon]
 
+      ::Sidekiq::Client.redis = ConnectionPool.new { Redis.connect(:url => @options[:server]) }
       server = Sidekiq::Server.new(@options[:server], @options)
       begin
         log 'Starting processing, hit Ctrl-C to stop'
         server.start!
-        sleep 1000
+        sleep FOREVER
       rescue Interrupt
         log 'Shutting down...'
         server.stop!
@@ -30,10 +34,9 @@ module Sidekiq
     private
 
     def boot_rails
-      #APP_PATH = File.expand_path('config/application.rb')
-      ENV['RAILS_ENV'] = 'production'
+      ENV['RAILS_ENV'] = @options[:environment] || 'production'
       require File.expand_path("#{@options[:rails]}/config/environment.rb")
-      Rails.application.config.threadsafe!
+      Rails.application.eager_load!
     end
 
     def validate!
@@ -60,6 +63,7 @@ module Sidekiq
         :server => 'redis://localhost:6379/0',
         :pidfile => nil,
         :rails => '.',
+        :environment => 'production',
       }
 
       @parser = OptionParser.new do |o|
@@ -86,6 +90,10 @@ module Sidekiq
           @options[:server] = arg
         end
 
+        o.on '-e', '--environment ENV', "Rails application environment" do |arg|
+          @options[:environment] = arg
+        end
+
         o.on '-r', '--rails PATH', "Rails application with workers" do |arg|
           @options[:rails] = arg
         end
diff --git a/lib/sidekiq/server.rb b/lib/sidekiq/server.rb
index 67c49696..01e7ac00 100644
--- a/lib/sidekiq/server.rb
+++ b/lib/sidekiq/server.rb
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ module Sidekiq
     trap_exit :worker_died
 
     def initialize(location, options={})
-      log "Starting sidekiq #{Sidekiq::VERSION} with Redis at #{location}"
+      log "Booting sidekiq #{Sidekiq::VERSION} with Redis at #{location}"
       verbose options.inspect
       @count = options[:worker_count]
       @queues = options[:queues]
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ module Sidekiq
       @busy = []
       @ready = []
       @count.times do
-        @ready << Worker.new_link
+        @ready << Worker.new_link(current_actor)
       end
     end
 
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ module Sidekiq
     end
 
     def start
-      dispatch
+      dispatch(true)
     end
 
     def worker_done(worker)
@@ -68,48 +68,51 @@ module Sidekiq
       end
 
       unless stopped?
-        @ready << Worker.new_link
+        @ready << Worker.new_link(current_actor)
         dispatch
       end
     end
 
     private
 
-    def dispatch
+    def find_work(queue_idx)
+      current_queue = @queues[queue_idx]
+      msg = @redis.lpop("queue:#{current_queue}")
+      if msg
+        worker = @ready.pop
+        @busy << worker
+        worker.process! MultiJson.decode(msg)
+      end
+      msg
+    end
+
+    def dispatch(schedule = false)
       watchdog("Fatal error in sidekiq, dispatch loop died") do
         return if stopped?
 
         # Our dispatch loop
+        # Loop through the queues, looking for a message in each.
         queue_idx = 0
-        none_found = true
+        found = false
         loop do
           # return so that we don't dispatch again until worker_done
-          return if @ready.size == 0
-
-          current_queue = @queues[queue_idx]
-          msg = @redis.lpop("queue:#{current_queue}")
-          if msg
-            worker = @ready.pop
-            @busy << worker
-            worker.process! MultiJson.decode(msg)
-            none_found = false
-          end
+          break verbose('no workers') if @ready.size == 0
 
+          found ||= find_work(queue_idx)
           queue_idx += 1
 
-          # Loop through the queues, looking for a message in each.
           # if we find no messages in any of the queues, we can break
           # out of the loop.  Otherwise we loop again.
           lastq = (queue_idx % @queues.size == 0)
-          if lastq && none_found
-            break
+          if lastq && !found
+            verbose('nothing to process'); break
           elsif lastq
             queue_idx = 0
-            none_found = true
+            found = false
           end
         end
 
-        after(1) { dispatch }
+        after(1) { verbose('ping'); dispatch(schedule) } if schedule
       end
     end
 
diff --git a/lib/sidekiq/worker.rb b/lib/sidekiq/worker.rb
index 38248698..22a926a3 100644
--- a/lib/sidekiq/worker.rb
+++ b/lib/sidekiq/worker.rb
@@ -4,10 +4,15 @@ module Sidekiq
   class Worker
     include Celluloid
 
+    def initialize(boss)
+      @boss = boss
+    end
+
     def process(msg)
       begin
         klass = msg['class'].constantize
         klass.new.perform(*msg['args'])
+        @boss.worker_done!(current_actor)
       rescue => ex
         send_to_airbrake(msg, ex) if defined?(::Airbrake)
         raise ex