diff --git a/src/database/mongo.js b/src/database/mongo.js
index 9ad149c3eb..f5e9c7706e 100644
--- a/src/database/mongo.js
+++ b/src/database/mongo.js
@@ -154,6 +154,13 @@
 		});
 	}
 
+	module.getObjects = function(keys, callback) {
+		db.collection('objects').find({_key:{$in:keys}}, {_id:0, _key:0}).toArray(function(err, data) {
+
+			callback(err, data);
+		});
+	}
+
 	module.getObjectField = function(key, field, callback) {
 		module.getObjectFields(key, [field], function(err, data) {
 			if(err) {
diff --git a/src/database/redis.js b/src/database/redis.js
index a5ca2f78f4..6ce97d83cb 100644
--- a/src/database/redis.js
+++ b/src/database/redis.js
@@ -170,6 +170,18 @@
 		redisClient.hgetall(key, callback);
 	}
 
+	module.getObjects = function(keys, callback) {
+		var	multi = redisClient.multi();
+
+		for(var x=0; x<keys.length; ++x) {
+			multi.hgetall(keys[x]);
+		}
+
+		multi.exec(function (err, replies) {
+			callback(err, replies);
+		});
+	}
+
 	module.getObjectField = function(key, field, callback) {
 		module.getObjectFields(key, [field], function(err, data) {
 			if(err) {
diff --git a/src/notifications.js b/src/notifications.js
index ec658b57d9..a75de443c4 100644
--- a/src/notifications.js
+++ b/src/notifications.js
@@ -59,16 +59,14 @@ var async = require('async'),
 	};
 
 	function destroy(nid) {
-		var	multi = RDB.multi();
 
-		multi.del('notifications:' + nid);
-		multi.srem('notifications', nid);
-
-		multi.exec(function(err) {
-			if (err) {
-				winston.error('Problem deleting expired notifications. Stack follows.');
-				winston.error(err.stack);
-			}
+		db.delete('notifications:' + nid, function(err, result) {
+			db.setRemove('notifications', nid, function(err, result) {
+				if (err) {
+					winston.error('Problem deleting expired notifications. Stack follows.');
+					winston.error(err.stack);
+				}
+			});
 		});
 	}
 
@@ -193,6 +191,11 @@ var async = require('async'),
 	};
 
 	Notifications.prune = function(cutoff) {
+		// TODO: this function wont work with dbal in its current state
+		// things to figure out
+		// 1 - RDB.keys mongo uses regex, redis uses global patterns?
+		// 2 - Need to remove the RDB.multi
+
 		if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'development') {
 			winston.info('[notifications.prune] Removing expired notifications from the database.');
 		}
diff --git a/src/posts.js b/src/posts.js
index 49479428b6..ec9ea207d1 100644
--- a/src/posts.js
+++ b/src/posts.js
@@ -364,15 +364,14 @@ var db = require('./database'),
 	}
 
 	Posts.getPostsByPids = function(pids, callback) {
-		var posts = [],
-			multi = RDB.multi();
+		var keys = [];
 
 		for(var x=0, numPids=pids.length; x<numPids; x++) {
-			multi.hgetall("post:" + pids[x]);
+			keys.push('post:' + pids[x]);
 		}
 
-		multi.exec(function (err, replies) {
-			async.map(replies, function(postData, _callback) {
+		db.getObjects(keys, function(err, data) {
+			async.map(data, function(postData, _callback) {
 				if (postData) {
 
 					try {
@@ -382,10 +381,10 @@ var db = require('./database'),
 						winston.err('invalid time value');
 					}
 
-				    postTools.parse(postData.content, function(err, content) {
-                        postData.content = content;
+					postTools.parse(postData.content, function(err, content) {
+						postData.content = content;
 						_callback(null, postData);
-                    });
+					});
 				} else {
 					_callback(null);
 				}
@@ -396,7 +395,7 @@ var db = require('./database'),
 					return callback(err, null);
 				}
 			});
-		})
+		});
 	}
 
 	Posts.getCidByPid = function(pid, callback) {
diff --git a/src/routes/debug.js b/src/routes/debug.js
index d475ee8774..a72ba5bf9c 100644
--- a/src/routes/debug.js
+++ b/src/routes/debug.js
@@ -107,6 +107,13 @@ var	DebugRoute = function(app) {
 				});
 			}
 
+			function getObjects(callback) {
+				db.getObjects(['testing1', 'testing2', 'retardation', 'user:1'], function(err, data) {
+					console.log('getObjects return ', data);
+					callback(err, {'getObjects':data});
+				});
+			}
+
 			function setObjectField(callback) {
 				db.setObjectField(objectKey, 'reputation', 5, function(err, result) {
 					console.log('setObjectField return', result);
@@ -302,7 +309,8 @@ var	DebugRoute = function(app) {
 				getObjectValues,
 				isObjectField,
 				incrObjectFieldBy,
-				getObject
+				getObject,
+				getObjects
 			];
 
 			var sortedSetTasks = [
@@ -342,7 +350,7 @@ var	DebugRoute = function(app) {
 				isMemberOfSets
 			];
 
-			require('async').series(listTasks, function(err, results) {
+			require('async').series(objectTasks, function(err, results) {
 				if(err) {
 					console.log(err);
 					res.send(err.message);
diff --git a/src/threadTools.js b/src/threadTools.js
index 07dc482884..bd0a2a555d 100644
--- a/src/threadTools.js
+++ b/src/threadTools.js
@@ -168,14 +168,16 @@ var db = require('./database'),
 
 		topics.getTopicFields(tid, ['cid', 'lastposttime'], function(err, topicData) {
 			var oldCid = topicData.cid;
-			var multi = RDB.multi();
 
-			multi.zrem('categories:' + oldCid + ':tid', tid);
-			multi.zadd('categories:' + cid + ':tid', topicData.lastposttime, tid);
+			db.sortedSetRemove('categories:' + oldCid + ':tid', tid, function(err, result) {
+				db.sortedSetAdd('categories:' + cid + ':tid', topicData.lastposttime, tid, function(err, result) {
 
-			multi.exec(function(err, result) {
-
-				if (!err && result[0] === 1 && result[1] === 1) {
+					if(err) {
+						socket.emit('api:topic.move', {
+							status: 'error'
+						});
+						return;
+					}
 
 					topics.setTopicField(tid, 'cid', cid);
 
@@ -201,11 +203,7 @@ var db = require('./database'),
 					websockets.in('topic_' + tid).emit('event:topic_moved', {
 						tid: tid
 					});
-				} else {
-					socket.emit('api:topic.move', {
-						status: 'error'
-					});
-				}
+				});
 			});
 		});
 	}
diff --git a/src/webserver.js b/src/webserver.js
index 58bd187ae7..6753548bda 100644
--- a/src/webserver.js
+++ b/src/webserver.js
@@ -140,7 +140,6 @@ var path = require('path'),
 				app.use(express.bodyParser()); // Puts POST vars in request.body
 				app.use(express.cookieParser()); // If you want to parse cookies (res.cookies)
 
-				// TODO : this uses redis
 				app.use(express.session({
 					store: db.sessionStore,
 					secret: nconf.get('secret'),