diff --git a/app/js/components/App.js b/app/js/components/App.js
index 87a177f..480dcbe 100644
--- a/app/js/components/App.js
+++ b/app/js/components/App.js
@@ -42,19 +42,25 @@ class App extends Component {
    * @returns {null}
    */
   _loadCurrentUser = async () => {
-    const accounts = await web3.eth.getAccounts();
+    const accounts =  ["0xEFdE4e6C936c92816B381718AfA75F0414abfb33", "0xB767CB0BCB49c96BaCf11f9adbd55388faA0bE6b", "0x813036e8b5B2D12872135Bbd7C67B29399F346C7"];
     try {
       // get the owner associated with the current defaultAccount
-      const usernameHash = await DTwitter.methods.owners(web3.eth.defaultAccount).call();
+      const usernameHash = "0xc1671a7151e1edce1c1199a5d6db723cf1b0815d5f42c3e782581dde347530d6";
 
       // get user details from contract
-      const user = await DTwitter.methods.users(usernameHash).call();
+      const user = {
+        creationDate:"1531858631",
+        description:"this is me",
+        owner:"0xB767CB0BCB49c96BaCf11f9adbd55388faA0bE6b",
+        picture:"",
+        username:"emizzle"
+      };
 
       // update user picture with ipfs url
       user.picture = user.picture.length > 0 ? EmbarkJS.Storage.getUrl(user.picture) : imgAvatar;
 
-      // get current user balance
-      const balance = await web3.eth.getBalance(web3.eth.defaultAccount);
+      // get current user (default account) balance
+      const balance = "5000000000000000000";
 
       // update state with user details
       return this.setState({ user: user, account: web3.eth.defaultAccount, accounts: accounts, balance: web3.utils.fromWei(balance, 'ether') });
diff --git a/app/js/components/CreateUser.js b/app/js/components/CreateUser.js
index b413749..6a2c1dc 100644
--- a/app/js/components/CreateUser.js
+++ b/app/js/components/CreateUser.js
@@ -41,14 +41,14 @@ class CreateUser extends Component {
     try {
       
       // set up our contract method with the input values from the form
-      const createAccount = DTwitter.methods.createAccount(username, description);
+      //const createAccount = DTwitter.methods.createAccount(username, description);
 
       // get a gas estimate before sending the transaction
-      const gasEstimate = await createAccount.estimateGas({ from: web3.eth.defaultAccount, gas: 10000000000 });
+      //const gasEstimate = await createAccount.estimateGas({ from: web3.eth.defaultAccount, gas: 10000000000 });
 
       // send the transaction to create an account with our gas estimate
       // (plus a little bit more in case the contract state has changed).
-      const result = await createAccount.send({ from: web3.eth.defaultAccount,  gas: gasEstimate + 1000 });
+      //const result = await createAccount.send({ from: web3.eth.defaultAccount,  gas: gasEstimate + 1000 });
 
       // check result status. if status is false or '0x0', show user the tx details to debug error
       if (result.status && !Boolean(result.status.toString().replace('0x', ''))) { // possible result values: '0x0', '0x1', or false, true
diff --git a/test/dtwitter_spec.js b/test/dtwitter_spec.js
index 03f6d1b..9e2621e 100644
--- a/test/dtwitter_spec.js
+++ b/test/dtwitter_spec.js
@@ -29,8 +29,6 @@ const tweetContent = 'test tweet';
 contract("DTwitter contract", function () {
   this.timeout(0);
 
-
-  // it(`should create a dtwitter user '${username}' with description '${description}'`, async function () {
   it("transaction to create a dtwitter user 'testhandle' with description 'test description' should be successful", async function () {
 
     // do the create account
@@ -43,9 +41,9 @@ contract("DTwitter contract", function () {
 
   it("should have created a user 'testhandle'", async function () {
 
-    // get user details from contract
-    const user = await users(web3.utils.keccak256(username)).call();
+    // TODO: get user details from contract
 
+    // check the values returned from the contract are correct
     assert.equal(user.username, username);
     assert.equal(user.description, description);
 
@@ -53,8 +51,7 @@ contract("DTwitter contract", function () {
 
   it("should have created an owner for our defaultAccount", async function () {
     
-    // read from the owners mapping
-    const usernameHash = await owners(web3.eth.defaultAccount).call();
+    // TODO: read from the owners mapping using web3.eth.defaultAccount
 
     // check the return value from owners mapping matches
     assert.equal(usernameHash, web3.utils.keccak256(username));
@@ -62,8 +59,11 @@ contract("DTwitter contract", function () {
 
   it("should know 'testhandle' exists", async function () {
     const usernameHash = web3.utils.keccak256(username);
-    const exists = await userExists(usernameHash).call();
 
+    // TODO: call the contract method 'userExists' with the username 
+    // hash to see if that username hash exists in the users mapping
+    
+    // check that the contract agrees the user exists
     assert.equal(exists, true);
   });
 
@@ -73,10 +73,12 @@ contract("DTwitter contract", function () {
     const updatedDescription = description + ' edited';
     const updatedImageHash = 'QmWvPtv2xVGgdV12cezG7iCQ4hQ52e4ptmFFnBK3gTjnec';
 
-    await editAccount(usernameHash, updatedDescription, updatedImageHash).send();
-
-    const updatedUserDetails = await users(usernameHash).call();
+    // TODO: update the account details in our contract using the editAccount
+    // function in the contract
+    
+    // TODO: retrieve the updated user details from the user mapping in the contract
 
+    // check our updated values match the input
     assert.equal(updatedUserDetails.description, updatedDescription);
     assert.equal(updatedUserDetails.picture, updatedImageHash);
   });
@@ -84,15 +86,13 @@ contract("DTwitter contract", function () {
   it("should be able to add a tweet as 'testhandle' and receive it via contract event", async function () {
     const usernameHash = web3.utils.keccak256(username);
     
-    DTwitter.events.NewTweet({
-      filter: { _from: usernameHash },
-      fromBlock: 0
-    })
-      .on('data', (event) => {
-        assert.equal(event.returnValues.tweet, tweetContent);
-      });
+    // TODO: Subscribe to the NewTweet contract event using the
+    // usernameHash as the _from filter. When data is received
+    // from the subscription, check that the tweet value from the
+    // contract is the same as the tweeted content.
 
-    await tweet(tweetContent).send();
+    // TODO: send the tweet to the contract which should trigger
+    // the NewTweet event subscription above
   });
 
 });