diff --git a/ethchain/block.go b/ethchain/block.go
index 437525e35..e00bcb24f 100644
--- a/ethchain/block.go
+++ b/ethchain/block.go
@@ -3,13 +3,14 @@ package ethchain
 import (
 	"bytes"
 	"fmt"
+	"math/big"
+	_ "strconv"
+	"time"
+
 	"github.com/ethereum/eth-go/ethcrypto"
 	"github.com/ethereum/eth-go/ethstate"
 	"github.com/ethereum/eth-go/ethtrie"
 	"github.com/ethereum/eth-go/ethutil"
-	"math/big"
-	_ "strconv"
-	"time"
 )
 
 type BlockInfo struct {
@@ -63,12 +64,6 @@ type Block struct {
 	TxSha        []byte
 }
 
-// New block takes a raw encoded string
-// XXX DEPRICATED
-func NewBlockFromData(raw []byte) *Block {
-	return NewBlockFromBytes(raw)
-}
-
 func NewBlockFromBytes(raw []byte) *Block {
 	block := &Block{}
 	block.RlpDecode(raw)
diff --git a/ethereum.go b/ethereum.go
index 18c1f8a23..799e9cb39 100644
--- a/ethereum.go
+++ b/ethereum.go
@@ -3,12 +3,6 @@ package eth
 import (
 	"container/list"
 	"fmt"
-	"github.com/ethereum/eth-go/ethchain"
-	"github.com/ethereum/eth-go/ethcrypto"
-	"github.com/ethereum/eth-go/ethlog"
-	"github.com/ethereum/eth-go/ethrpc"
-	"github.com/ethereum/eth-go/ethutil"
-	"github.com/ethereum/eth-go/ethwire"
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"math/rand"
 	"net"
@@ -18,6 +12,13 @@ import (
 	"sync"
 	"sync/atomic"
 	"time"
+
+	"github.com/ethereum/eth-go/ethchain"
+	"github.com/ethereum/eth-go/ethcrypto"
+	"github.com/ethereum/eth-go/ethlog"
+	"github.com/ethereum/eth-go/ethrpc"
+	"github.com/ethereum/eth-go/ethutil"
+	"github.com/ethereum/eth-go/ethwire"
 )
 
 const seedTextFileUri string = "http://www.ethereum.org/servers.poc3.txt"
diff --git a/ethutil/bytes.go b/ethutil/bytes.go
index 34fff7d42..53b8cf645 100644
--- a/ethutil/bytes.go
+++ b/ethutil/bytes.go
@@ -98,6 +98,7 @@ func Bytes2Hex(d []byte) string {
 
 func Hex2Bytes(str string) []byte {
 	h, _ := hex.DecodeString(str)
+
 	return h
 }
 
diff --git a/ethutil/config.go b/ethutil/config.go
index 41bece21d..81052318e 100644
--- a/ethutil/config.go
+++ b/ethutil/config.go
@@ -3,8 +3,9 @@ package ethutil
 import (
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
-	"github.com/rakyll/globalconf"
 	"os"
+
+	"github.com/rakyll/globalconf"
 )
 
 // Config struct
@@ -28,8 +29,7 @@ var Config *ConfigManager
 func ReadConfig(ConfigFile string, Datadir string, EnvPrefix string) *ConfigManager {
 	if Config == nil {
 		// create ConfigFile if does not exist, otherwise globalconf panic when trying to persist flags
-		_, err := os.Stat(ConfigFile)
-		if err != nil && os.IsNotExist(err) {
+		if !FileExist(ConfigFile) {
 			fmt.Printf("config file '%s' doesn't exist, creating it\n", ConfigFile)
 			os.Create(ConfigFile)
 		}
diff --git a/ethutil/path.go b/ethutil/path.go
index 97f58ab7e..27022bcfa 100644
--- a/ethutil/path.go
+++ b/ethutil/path.go
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 package ethutil
 
 import (
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"os"
 	"os/user"
 	"strings"
 )
@@ -18,3 +20,41 @@ func ExpandHomePath(p string) (path string) {
 
 	return
 }
+
+func FileExist(filePath string) bool {
+	_, err := os.Stat(filePath)
+	if err != nil && os.IsNotExist(err) {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	return true
+}
+
+func ReadAllFile(filePath string) (string, error) {
+	file, err := os.Open(filePath)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+
+	data, err := ioutil.ReadAll(file)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+
+	return string(data), nil
+}
+
+func WriteFile(filePath string, content []byte) error {
+	fh, err := os.OpenFile(filePath, os.O_RDWR|os.O_CREATE, os.ModePerm)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer fh.Close()
+
+	_, err = fh.Write(content)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/ethvm/vm.go b/ethvm/vm.go
index a93b56e60..e0a9d831b 100644
--- a/ethvm/vm.go
+++ b/ethvm/vm.go
@@ -2,11 +2,12 @@ package ethvm
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"math"
+	"math/big"
+
 	"github.com/ethereum/eth-go/ethcrypto"
 	"github.com/ethereum/eth-go/ethstate"
 	"github.com/ethereum/eth-go/ethutil"
-	"math"
-	"math/big"
 )
 
 type Debugger interface {
diff --git a/peer.go b/peer.go
index ffba695ca..691a2f575 100644
--- a/peer.go
+++ b/peer.go
@@ -4,15 +4,16 @@ import (
 	"bytes"
 	"container/list"
 	"fmt"
-	"github.com/ethereum/eth-go/ethchain"
-	"github.com/ethereum/eth-go/ethlog"
-	"github.com/ethereum/eth-go/ethutil"
-	"github.com/ethereum/eth-go/ethwire"
 	"net"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"sync/atomic"
 	"time"
+
+	"github.com/ethereum/eth-go/ethchain"
+	"github.com/ethereum/eth-go/ethlog"
+	"github.com/ethereum/eth-go/ethutil"
+	"github.com/ethereum/eth-go/ethwire"
 )
 
 var peerlogger = ethlog.NewLogger("PEER")
@@ -197,10 +198,12 @@ func NewOutboundPeer(addr string, ethereum *Ethereum, caps Caps) *Peer {
 }
 
 func (self *Peer) Connect(addr string) (conn net.Conn, err error) {
-	for attempts := 0; attempts < 5; attempts++ {
+	const maxTries = 3
+	for attempts := 0; attempts < maxTries; attempts++ {
 		conn, err = net.DialTimeout("tcp", addr, 10*time.Second)
 		if err != nil {
-			peerlogger.Debugf("Peer connection failed. Retrying (%d/5)\n", attempts+1)
+			//peerlogger.Debugf("Peer connection failed. Retrying (%d/%d) (%s)\n", attempts+1, maxTries, addr)
+			time.Sleep(time.Duration(attempts*20) * time.Second)
 			continue
 		}