diff --git a/laravel/blade.php b/laravel/blade.php
index 98052992..f692669d 100644
--- a/laravel/blade.php
+++ b/laravel/blade.php
@@ -21,11 +21,7 @@ public static function parse($path)
 	 */
 	public static function parse_string($value)
 	{
-		$value = static::rewrite_echos($value);
-		$value = static::rewrite_openings($value);
-		$value = static::rewrite_closings($value);
-
-		return $value;
+		return static::closings(static::openings(static::echos($value)));
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -34,7 +30,7 @@ public static function parse_string($value)
 	 * @param  string  $value
 	 * @return string
 	 */
-	protected static function rewrite_echos($value)
+	protected static function echos($value)
 	{
 		return preg_replace('/\{\{(.+)\}\}/', '<?php echo $1; ?>', $value);
 	}
@@ -45,7 +41,7 @@ protected static function rewrite_echos($value)
 	 * @param  string  $value
 	 * @return string
 	 */
-	protected static function rewrite_openings($value)
+	protected static function openings($value)
 	{
 		return preg_replace('/@(if|elseif|foreach|for|while)(\s*\(.*?\))\:/', '<?php $1$2: ?>', $value);
 	}
@@ -56,7 +52,7 @@ protected static function rewrite_openings($value)
 	 * @param  string  $value
 	 * @return string
 	 */
-	protected static function rewrite_closings($value)
+	protected static function closings($value)
 	{
 		$value = preg_replace('/(\s*)@(else)(.*?)\:/', '$1<?php $2$3: ?>', $value);
 		$value = preg_replace('/(\s*)@(endif|endforeach|endfor|endwhile)(\s*)/', '$1<?php $2; ?> $3', $value);
diff --git a/laravel/bootstrap/core.php b/laravel/bootstrap/core.php
index f157c4cd..217d9f02 100644
--- a/laravel/bootstrap/core.php
+++ b/laravel/bootstrap/core.php
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@
 define('CONTROLLER_PATH', APP_PATH.'controllers/');
 define('DATABASE_PATH',   STORAGE_PATH.'database/');
 define('LANG_PATH',       APP_PATH.'language/');
+define('LIBRARY_PATH',    APP_PATH.'libraries/');
+define('MODEL_PATH',      APP_PATH.'models/');
 define('ROUTE_PATH',      APP_PATH.'routes/');
 define('SESSION_PATH',    STORAGE_PATH.'sessions/');
 define('SYS_CONFIG_PATH', SYS_PATH.'config/');
@@ -68,11 +70,7 @@
  * Register the application auto-loader. The auto-loader is responsible for the lazy-loading
  * of all of the Laravel core classes, as well as the developer created libraries and models.
  */
-spl_autoload_register(array('Laravel\\Loader', 'load'));
-
-Loader::$paths = array(BASE_PATH, APP_PATH.'models/', APP_PATH.'libraries/', APP_PATH);
-
-Loader::$aliases = Config::get('aliases');
+spl_autoload_register(array($container->resolve('laravel.loader'), 'load'));
 
 /**
  * Define a few convenient global functions.
diff --git a/laravel/config/container.php b/laravel/config/container.php
index 009b461d..6396daa3 100644
--- a/laravel/config/container.php
+++ b/laravel/config/container.php
@@ -64,6 +64,12 @@
 	}),
 
 
+	'laravel.loader' => array('singleton' => true, 'resolver' => function($c)
+	{
+		return new Loader(array(BASE_PATH, MODEL_PATH, LIBRARY_PATH, BASE_PATH), Config::get('aliases'));
+	}),
+
+
 	'laravel.request' => array('singleton' => true, 'resolver' => function($c)
 	{
 		return new Request($c->resolve('laravel.uri'), $_SERVER, $_POST);		
diff --git a/laravel/database/connection.php b/laravel/database/connection.php
index 74311054..e605116e 100644
--- a/laravel/database/connection.php
+++ b/laravel/database/connection.php
@@ -1,7 +1,4 @@
-<?php namespace Laravel\Database;
-
-use PDO;
-use PDOStatement;
+<?php namespace Laravel\Database; use PDO, PDOStatement;
 
 class Connection {
 
@@ -49,6 +46,14 @@ public function __construct(PDO $pdo, $config)
 	/**
 	 * Execute a SQL query against the connection and return a scalar result.
 	 *
+	 * <code>
+	 *		// Get the total number of rows on a table
+	 *		$count = DB::connection()->scalar('select count(*) from users');
+	 *
+	 *		// Get the sum of payment amounts from a table
+	 *		$sum = DB::connection()->scalar('select sum(amount) from payments')
+	 * </code>
+	 *
 	 * @param  string     $sql
 	 * @param  array      $bindings
 	 * @return int|float
@@ -63,13 +68,21 @@ public function scalar($sql, $bindings = array())
 	/**
 	 * Execute a SQL query against the connection and return the first result.
 	 *
+	 * <code>
+	 *		// Execute a query against the database connection
+	 *		$user = DB::connection()->first('select * from users');
+	 *
+	 *		// Execute a query with bound parameters
+	 *		$user = DB::connection()->first('select * from users where id = ?', array($id));
+	 * </code>
+	 *
 	 * @param  string  $sql
 	 * @param  array   $bindings
 	 * @return object
 	 */
 	public function first($sql, $bindings = array())
 	{
-		return (count($results = $this->query($sql, $bindings)) > 0) ? $results[0] : null;
+		if (count($results = $this->query($sql, $bindings)) > 0) return $results[0];
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -82,6 +95,14 @@ public function first($sql, $bindings = array())
 	 *     DELETE -> Number of Rows affected.
 	 *     ELSE   -> Boolean true / false depending on success.
 	 *
+	 * <code>
+	 *		// Execute a query against the database connection
+	 *		$users = DB::connection()->query('select * from users');
+	 *
+	 *		// Execute a query with bound parameters
+	 *		$user = DB::connection()->query('select * from users where id = ?', array($id));
+	 * </code>
+	 *
 	 * @param  string  $sql
 	 * @param  array   $bindings
 	 * @return mixed
diff --git a/laravel/database/manager.php b/laravel/database/manager.php
index 0234d018..92d49233 100644
--- a/laravel/database/manager.php
+++ b/laravel/database/manager.php
@@ -18,6 +18,14 @@ class Manager {
 	 *
 	 * Note: Database connections are managed as singletons.
 	 *
+	 * <code>
+	 *		// Get the default database connection for the application
+	 *		$connection = DB::connection();
+	 *
+	 *		// Get a specific connection by passing the connection name
+	 *		$connection = DB::connection('mysql');
+	 * </code>
+	 *
 	 * @param  string      $connection
 	 * @return Connection
 	 */
diff --git a/laravel/loader.php b/laravel/loader.php
index f76d8ed6..693742af 100644
--- a/laravel/loader.php
+++ b/laravel/loader.php
@@ -7,32 +7,56 @@ class Loader {
 	 *
 	 * @var array
 	 */
-	public static $paths = array();
+	protected $paths = array();
 
 	/**
 	 * The class aliases defined for the application.
 	 *
 	 * @var array
 	 */
-	public static $aliases = array();
+	protected $aliases = array();
+
+	/**
+	 * Create a new class loader instance.
+	 *
+	 * @param  array  $paths
+	 * @param  array  $aliases
+	 * @return void
+	 */
+	public function __construct($paths, $aliases = array())
+	{
+		$this->paths = $paths;
+		$this->aliases = $aliases;
+	}
 
 	/**
 	 * Load the file for a given class.
 	 *
+	 * <code>
+	 *		// Load the file for the "User" class
+	 *		Loader::load('User');
+	 *
+	 *		// Load the file for the "Repositories\User" class
+	 *		Loader::load('Repositories\\User');
+	 * </code>
+	 *
 	 * @param  string  $class
 	 * @return void
 	 */
-	public static function load($class)
+	public function load($class)
 	{
-		// All Laravel core classes follow a namespace to directory convention. So, we will
-		// replace all of the namespace slashes with directory slashes.
+		// All Laravel core classes follow a namespace to directory convention.
+		// We will replace all of the namespace slashes with directory slashes.
 		$file = strtolower(str_replace('\\', '/', $class));
 
-		// First, we'll check to determine if an alias exists. If it does, we will define the
-		// alias and bail out. Aliases are defined for most developer used core classes.
-		if (array_key_exists($class, static::$aliases)) return class_alias(static::$aliases[$class], $class);
+		// Check to determine if an alias exists. If it does, we will define the
+		// alias and bail out. Aliases are defined for most used core classes.
+		if (array_key_exists($class, $this->aliases))
+		{
+			return class_alias($this->aliases[$class], $class);
+		}
 
-		foreach (static::$paths as $path)
+		foreach ($this->paths as $path)
 		{
 			if (file_exists($path = $path.$file.EXT))
 			{
@@ -46,15 +70,13 @@ public static function load($class)
 	/**
 	 * Register a class alias with the auto-loader.
 	 *
-	 * Note: Aliases are lazy-loaded, so the aliased class will not be included until it is needed.
-	 *
 	 * @param  string  $alias
 	 * @param  string  $class
 	 * @return void
 	 */
-	public static function alias($alias, $class)
+	public function alias($alias, $class)
 	{
-		static::$aliases[$alias] = $class;
+		$this->aliases[$alias] = $class;
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -63,9 +85,9 @@ public static function alias($alias, $class)
 	 * @param  string  $path
 	 * @return void
 	 */
-	public static function path($path)
+	public function path($path)
 	{
-		static::$paths[] = rtrim($path, '/').'/';
+		$this->paths[] = rtrim($path, '/').'/';
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -74,9 +96,9 @@ public static function path($path)
 	 * @param  string  $alias
 	 * @return void
 	 */
-	public static function forget_alias($alias)
+	public function forget_alias($alias)
 	{
-		unset(static::$aliases[$alias]);
+		unset($this->aliases[$alias]);
 	}
 
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/laravel/validation/validator.php b/laravel/validation/validator.php
index b17cd814..b7dc43a6 100644
--- a/laravel/validation/validator.php
+++ b/laravel/validation/validator.php
@@ -285,7 +285,9 @@ protected function get_size($attribute)
 
 		$value = $this->attributes[$attribute];
 
-		return (array_key_exists($attribute, $_FILES)) ? $value['size'] / 1024 : Str::length(trim($value));
+		$files = IoC::container()->resolve('laravel.input')->files();
+
+		return (array_key_exists($attribute, $files) ? $value['size'] / 1024 : Str::length(trim($value));
 	}
 
 	/**