diff --git a/.rspec b/.rspec
index 37bd1a9..5f16476 100644
--- a/.rspec
+++ b/.rspec
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
---colour --format progress --order random
+--color
+--format progress
diff --git a/spec/helpers.rb b/spec/helpers.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fb45732
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/helpers.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+module Helpers
+  def response_double(opts={})
+    double('response', {:to_hash => {}}.merge(opts))
+  end
+end
diff --git a/spec/integration/integration_spec.rb b/spec/integration/integration_spec.rb
index 5730d2c..5327614 100644
--- a/spec/integration/integration_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/integration/integration_spec.rb
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ describe RestClient do
       response.encoding.should eq Encoding::BINARY
       lambda {
         response.encode('utf-8')
-      }.should_raise(Encoding::UndefinedConversionError)
+      }.should raise_error(Encoding::UndefinedConversionError)
       response.valid_encoding?.should eq true
     end
   end
diff --git a/spec/spec_helper.rb b/spec/spec_helper.rb
index 60cf27e..a74f4bd 100644
--- a/spec/spec_helper.rb
+++ b/spec/spec_helper.rb
@@ -1,2 +1,20 @@
 require 'webmock/rspec'
-require 'restclient'
+require 'rest-client'
+
+require_relative './helpers'
+
+# See http://rubydoc.info/gems/rspec-core/RSpec/Core/Configuration
+RSpec.configure do |config|
+  config.treat_symbols_as_metadata_keys_with_true_values = true
+  config.run_all_when_everything_filtered = true
+  config.filter_run :focus
+
+  # Run specs in random order to surface order dependencies. If you find an
+  # order dependency and want to debug it, you can fix the order by providing
+  # the seed, which is printed after each run.
+  #     --seed 1234
+  config.order = 'random'
+
+  # add helpers
+  config.include Helpers, :include_helpers
+end
diff --git a/spec/unit/_lib.rb b/spec/unit/_lib.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..935238d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/unit/_lib.rb
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+require_relative '../spec_helper'
diff --git a/spec/unit/abstract_response_spec.rb b/spec/unit/abstract_response_spec.rb
index 83928cf..8967dae 100644
--- a/spec/unit/abstract_response_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/unit/abstract_response_spec.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-require 'spec_helper'
+require_relative '_lib'
 
 describe RestClient::AbstractResponse do
 
diff --git a/spec/unit/exceptions_spec.rb b/spec/unit/exceptions_spec.rb
index 5d86373..1050f9a 100644
--- a/spec/unit/exceptions_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/unit/exceptions_spec.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-require 'spec_helper'
+require_relative '_lib'
 
 describe RestClient::Exception do
   it "returns a 'message' equal to the class name if the message is not set, because 'message' should not be nil" do
diff --git a/spec/unit/payload_spec.rb b/spec/unit/payload_spec.rb
index 6af05a6..851e5de 100644
--- a/spec/unit/payload_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/unit/payload_spec.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # encoding: binary
 
-require 'spec_helper'
+require_relative '_lib'
 
 describe RestClient::Payload do
   context "A regular Payload" do
diff --git a/spec/unit/raw_response_spec.rb b/spec/unit/raw_response_spec.rb
index d95e965..675fc6d 100644
--- a/spec/unit/raw_response_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/unit/raw_response_spec.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-require 'spec_helper'
+require_relative '_lib'
 
 describe RestClient::RawResponse do
   before do
diff --git a/spec/unit/request2_spec.rb b/spec/unit/request2_spec.rb
index 4a32d7e..9dd864b 100644
--- a/spec/unit/request2_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/unit/request2_spec.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-require 'spec_helper'
+require_relative '_lib'
 
 describe RestClient::Request do
 
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ describe RestClient::Request do
     stub_request(:post, 'http://some/resource').with(:headers => {'Accept'=>'*/*', 'Accept-Encoding'=>'gzip, deflate'}).to_return(:body => 'foo', :status => 200)
     RestClient::Request.execute(:url => 'http://some/resource', :method => :post, :payload => {:file => test_file})
 
-    test_file.closed?.should be_true
+    test_file.closed?.should be true
   end
 
 end
diff --git a/spec/unit/request_spec.rb b/spec/unit/request_spec.rb
index e98bc39..a687828 100644
--- a/spec/unit/request_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/unit/request_spec.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
-require 'spec_helper'
+require_relative './_lib'
 
-describe RestClient::Request do
+describe RestClient::Request, :include_helpers do
   before do
     @request = RestClient::Request.new(:method => :put, :url => 'http://some/resource', :payload => 'payload')
 
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ describe RestClient::Request do
   end
 
   it "processes a successful result" do
-    res = double("result")
+    res = response_double
     res.stub(:code).and_return("200")
     res.stub(:body).and_return('body')
     res.stub(:[]).with('content-encoding').and_return(nil)
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ describe RestClient::Request do
 
   it "doesn't classify successful requests as failed" do
     203.upto(207) do |code|
-      res = double("result")
+      res = response_double
       res.stub(:code).and_return(code.to_s)
       res.stub(:body).and_return("")
       res.stub(:[]).with('content-encoding').and_return(nil)
@@ -381,24 +381,24 @@ describe RestClient::Request do
 
   describe "exception" do
     it "raises Unauthorized when the response is 401" do
-      res = double('response', :code => '401', :[] => ['content-encoding' => ''], :body => '' )
+      res = response_double(:code => '401', :[] => ['content-encoding' => ''], :body => '' )
       lambda { @request.process_result(res) }.should raise_error(RestClient::Unauthorized)
     end
 
     it "raises ResourceNotFound when the response is 404" do
-      res = double('response', :code => '404', :[] => ['content-encoding' => ''], :body => '' )
+      res = response_double(:code => '404', :[] => ['content-encoding' => ''], :body => '' )
       lambda { @request.process_result(res) }.should raise_error(RestClient::ResourceNotFound)
     end
 
     it "raises RequestFailed otherwise" do
-      res = double('response', :code => '500', :[] => ['content-encoding' => ''], :body => '' )
+      res = response_double(:code => '500', :[] => ['content-encoding' => ''], :body => '' )
       lambda { @request.process_result(res) }.should raise_error(RestClient::InternalServerError)
     end
   end
 
   describe "block usage" do
     it "returns what asked to" do
-      res = double('response', :code => '401', :[] => ['content-encoding' => ''], :body => '' )
+      res = response_double(:code => '401', :[] => ['content-encoding' => ''], :body => '' )
       @request.process_result(res){|response, request| "foo"}.should eq "foo"
     end
   end
@@ -406,7 +406,7 @@ describe RestClient::Request do
   describe "proxy" do
     it "creates a proxy class if a proxy url is given" do
       RestClient.stub(:proxy).and_return("http://example.com/")
-      @request.net_http_class.proxy_class?.should be_true
+      @request.net_http_class.proxy_class?.should be true
     end
 
     it "creates a proxy class with the correct address if a IPv6 proxy url is given" do
@@ -415,7 +415,7 @@ describe RestClient::Request do
     end
 
     it "creates a non-proxy class if a proxy url is not given" do
-      @request.net_http_class.proxy_class?.should be_false
+      @request.net_http_class.proxy_class?.should be_falsey
     end
   end
 
diff --git a/spec/unit/resource_spec.rb b/spec/unit/resource_spec.rb
index 1657ee8..056a8fb 100644
--- a/spec/unit/resource_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/unit/resource_spec.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-require 'spec_helper'
+require_relative '_lib'
 
 describe RestClient::Resource do
   before do
diff --git a/spec/unit/response_spec.rb b/spec/unit/response_spec.rb
index ceef318..2aed489 100644
--- a/spec/unit/response_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/unit/response_spec.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
-require 'spec_helper'
+require_relative '_lib'
 
-describe RestClient::Response do
+describe RestClient::Response, :include_helpers do
   before do
     @net_http_res = double('net http response', :to_hash => {"Status" => ["200 OK"]}, :code => 200)
     @request = double('http request', :user => nil, :password => nil)
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ describe RestClient::Response do
   describe "exceptions processing" do
     it "should return itself for normal codes" do
       (200..206).each do |code|
-        net_http_res = double('net http response', :code => '200')
+        net_http_res = response_double(:code => '200')
         response = RestClient::Response.create('abc', net_http_res, {})
         response.return! @request
       end
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ describe RestClient::Response do
     it "should throw an exception for other codes" do
       RestClient::Exceptions::EXCEPTIONS_MAP.each_key do |code|
         unless (200..207).include? code
-          net_http_res = double('net http response', :code => code.to_i)
+          net_http_res = response_double(:code => code.to_i)
           response = RestClient::Response.create('abc', net_http_res, {})
           lambda { response.return!}.should raise_error
         end
@@ -94,25 +94,25 @@ describe RestClient::Response do
     end
 
     it "doesn't follow a 301 when the request is a post" do
-      net_http_res = double('net http response', :code => 301)
+      net_http_res = response_double(:code => 301)
       response = RestClient::Response.create('abc', net_http_res, {:method => :post})
       lambda { response.return!(@request)}.should raise_error(RestClient::MovedPermanently)
     end
 
     it "doesn't follow a 302 when the request is a post" do
-      net_http_res = double('net http response', :code => 302)
+      net_http_res = response_double(:code => 302)
       response = RestClient::Response.create('abc', net_http_res, {:method => :post})
       lambda { response.return!(@request)}.should raise_error(RestClient::Found)
     end
 
     it "doesn't follow a 307 when the request is a post" do
-      net_http_res = double('net http response', :code => 307)
+      net_http_res = response_double(:code => 307)
       response = RestClient::Response.create('abc', net_http_res, {:method => :post})
       lambda { response.return!(@request)}.should raise_error(RestClient::TemporaryRedirect)
     end
 
     it "doesn't follow a redirection when the request is a put" do
-      net_http_res = double('net http response', :code => 301)
+      net_http_res = response_double(:code => 301)
       response = RestClient::Response.create('abc', net_http_res, {:method => :put})
       lambda { response.return!(@request)}.should raise_error(RestClient::MovedPermanently)
     end
diff --git a/spec/unit/restclient_spec.rb b/spec/unit/restclient_spec.rb
index 1f2ab6f..5e82439 100644
--- a/spec/unit/restclient_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/unit/restclient_spec.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-require 'spec_helper'
+require_relative '_lib'
 
 describe RestClient do
   describe "API" do
diff --git a/spec/unit/utils_spec.rb b/spec/unit/utils_spec.rb
index f29ab57..ceac0f8 100644
--- a/spec/unit/utils_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/unit/utils_spec.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-require 'spec_helper'
+require_relative '_lib'
 
 describe RestClient::Utils do
   describe '.get_encoding_from_headers' do
diff --git a/spec/unit/windows/root_certs_spec.rb b/spec/unit/windows/root_certs_spec.rb
index 12d68ef..53c1dfb 100644
--- a/spec/unit/windows/root_certs_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/unit/windows/root_certs_spec.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-require 'spec_helper'
+require_relative '../_lib'
 
 describe 'RestClient::Windows::RootCerts',
          :if => RestClient::Platform.windows? do