diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index a320b31..810de6a 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,13 @@
 certauth>=1.1.0
 rethinkdb
 git+https://github.com/internetarchive/warctools.git
-git+https://github.com/nlevitt/surt.git@py3
 kafka-python
+
+.
+# -e .
+
+git+https://github.com/nlevitt/surt.git@py3
+# -e /home/nlevitt/workspace/surt
+
+https://github.com/nlevitt/pyrethink.git
+# -e /home/nlevitt/workspace/pyrethink
diff --git a/warcprox/__init__.py b/warcprox/__init__.py
index 875bea2..e437074 100644
--- a/warcprox/__init__.py
+++ b/warcprox/__init__.py
@@ -17,44 +17,10 @@ class Options(_Namespace):
         except AttributeError:
             return None
 
-class Rethinker:
-    import logging
-    logger = logging.getLogger("warcprox.Rethinker")
-
-    def __init__(self, servers=["localhost"], db=None):
-        self.servers = servers
-        self.db = db
-
-    # https://github.com/rethinkdb/rethinkdb-example-webpy-blog/blob/master/model.py
-    # "Best practices: Managing connections: a connection per request"
-    def _random_server_connection(self):
-        import rethinkdb as r
-        import random
-        while True:
-            server = random.choice(self.servers)
-            try:
-                try:
-                    host, port = server.split(":")
-                    return r.connect(host=host, port=port)
-                except ValueError:
-                    return r.connect(host=server)
-            except Exception as e:
-                self.logger.error("will keep trying to get a connection after failure connecting to %s", server, exc_info=True)
-                import time
-                time.sleep(0.5)
-
-    def run(self, query):
-        import rethinkdb as r
-        while True:
-            with self._random_server_connection() as conn:
-                try:
-                    return query.run(conn, db=self.db)
-                except (r.ReqlAvailabilityError, r.ReqlTimeoutError) as e:
-                    self.logger.error("will retry rethinkdb query/operation %s which failed like so:", query, exc_info=True)
-
 version_bytes = _read_version_bytes().strip()
 version_str = version_bytes.decode('utf-8')
 
+# XXX linux-specific
 def gettid():
     try:
         import ctypes
@@ -63,7 +29,7 @@ def gettid():
         tid = libc.syscall(SYS_gettid)
         return tid
     except:
-        logging.warn("gettid failed?")
+        logging.warn("gettid failed?", exc_info=True)
 
 import warcprox.controller as controller
 import warcprox.playback as playback
diff --git a/warcprox/bigtable.py b/warcprox/bigtable.py
index 917edab..551fdca 100644
--- a/warcprox/bigtable.py
+++ b/warcprox/bigtable.py
@@ -12,12 +12,13 @@ import base64
 import surt
 import os
 import hashlib
+import pyrethink
 
 class RethinkCaptures:
     logger = logging.getLogger("warcprox.bigtables.RethinkCaptures")
 
     def __init__(self, servers=["localhost"], db="warcprox", table="captures", shards=3, replicas=3, options=warcprox.Options()):
-        self.r = warcprox.Rethinker(servers, db)
+        self.r = pyrethink.Rethinker(servers, db)
         self.table = table
         self.shards = shards
         self.replicas = replicas
@@ -40,8 +41,8 @@ class RethinkCaptures:
         if algo != "sha1":
             raise Exception("digest type is {} but big capture table is indexed by sha1".format(algo))
         sha1base32 = base64.b32encode(raw_digest).decode("utf-8")
-        cursor = self.r.run(r.table(self.table).get_all([sha1base32, "response", bucket], index="sha1_warc_type"))
-        results = list(cursor)
+        results_iter = self.r.results_iter(r.table(self.table).get_all([sha1base32, "response", bucket], index="sha1_warc_type"))
+        results = list(results_iter)
         if len(results) > 1:
             raise Exception("expected 0 or 1 but found %s results for sha1base32=%s", len(results), sha1base32)
         elif len(results) == 1:
diff --git a/warcprox/dedup.py b/warcprox/dedup.py
index 4eea112..368054a 100644
--- a/warcprox/dedup.py
+++ b/warcprox/dedup.py
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import warcprox
 import rethinkdb
 r = rethinkdb
 import random
+import pyrethink
 
 class DedupDb(object):
     logger = logging.getLogger("warcprox.dedup.DedupDb")
@@ -88,7 +89,7 @@ class RethinkDedupDb:
     logger = logging.getLogger("warcprox.dedup.RethinkDedupDb")
 
     def __init__(self, servers=["localhost"], db="warcprox", table="dedup", shards=3, replicas=3, options=warcprox.Options()):
-        self.r = warcprox.Rethinker(servers, db)
+        self.r = pyrethink.Rethinker(servers, db)
         self.table = table
         self.shards = shards
         self.replicas = replicas
diff --git a/warcprox/stats.py b/warcprox/stats.py
index 852975f..3c16833 100644
--- a/warcprox/stats.py
+++ b/warcprox/stats.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import rethinkdb
 r = rethinkdb
 import random
 import warcprox
+import pyrethink
 
 def _empty_bucket(bucket):
     return {
@@ -106,7 +107,7 @@ class RethinkStatsDb:
     logger = logging.getLogger("warcprox.stats.RethinkStatsDb")
 
     def __init__(self, servers=["localhost"], db="warcprox", table="stats", shards=3, replicas=3, options=warcprox.Options()):
-        self.r = warcprox.Rethinker(servers, db)
+        self.r = pyrethink.Rethinker(servers, db)
         self.table = table
         self.shards = shards
         self.replicas = replicas