diff --git a/server/main.js b/server/main.js
index 43c23a6..e13ea2b 100644
--- a/server/main.js
+++ b/server/main.js
@@ -1,12 +1,11 @@
 function poll() {
-    console.log("polling");
     var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
-    xhr.load=function() {
-        console.log(JSON.parse(xhr.responseText));
+
+    xhr.onload=function() {
+        console.log(xhr.responseText);
     };
 
     xhr.onerror = function(e){
-        console.log(e);
     };
 
     xhr.open("GET", "/state", true);
diff --git a/server/server.py b/server/server.py
index 73e94ea..bc12cd7 100644
--- a/server/server.py
+++ b/server/server.py
@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@ import urlparse
 from BaseHTTPServer import BaseHTTPRequestHandler
 from SimpleHTTPServer import SimpleHTTPRequestHandler
 import SocketServer
+import sys
+import json
+import threading
+import time
 
 class MyHandler(SimpleHTTPRequestHandler):
     def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
@@ -9,19 +13,27 @@ class MyHandler(SimpleHTTPRequestHandler):
 
     def get_state(self):
         self.send_response(200)
+        self.send_header('Content-Type', 'application/json')
         self.end_headers()
-        self.wfile.write("here is the state")
+        self.wfile.write(json.dumps({"state":"here is the state"}))
     
     def do_GET(self, *args, **kwargs):
         parsed_path = urlparse.urlparse(self.path)
-        if parsed_path == "/state":
+        print parsed_path.path
+        if parsed_path.path == "/state":
             return self.get_state()
         else:
             return SimpleHTTPRequestHandler.do_GET(self, *args, **kwargs)
 
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    port = int(sys.argv[1]) if len(sys.argv)==2 else 8000
+    server = SocketServer.TCPServer(("127.0.0.1", port), MyHandler)
 
-
-httpd = SocketServer.TCPServer(("", 8000), MyHandler)
-
-print "Go to 127.0.0.0:8000"
-httpd.serve_forever()
+    print "Go to 127.0.0.0:{}".format(port)
+    thread = threading.Thread(None, server.serve_forever)
+    thread.daemon = True
+    thread.start()
+    time.sleep(5)
+    print "Shutting down ... "
+    server.shutdown()
+    #thread.join()