diff --git a/spec/integration/simple_spec.rb b/spec/integration/simple_spec.rb
index 509fbf9..cfe5968 100644
--- a/spec/integration/simple_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/integration/simple_spec.rb
@@ -1,19 +1,20 @@
 # encoding: utf-8
+$LOAD_PATH.unshift File.expand_path(File.dirname(__FILE__))
 
 require 'spec_helper'
 require 'amqp/server'
-require 'spec_server'
+require 'server_helper'
 
 describe "Simple AMQP connection with FailoverClient" do
   
   before(:all) do
-    @log = SpecServer.log
+    @log = ServerHelper.log
+    AMQP.client = AMQP::FailoverClient
   end
   
   it "should be connected" do
-    AMQP.client = AMQP::FailoverClient
     EM.run {
-      @sig = EM.start_server('localhost', 15672, SpecServer)
+      sig = EM.start_server('localhost', 15672, ServerHelper)
       conn = AMQP.connect(:host => 'localhost', :port => 15672)
       EM.add_timer(0.1) {
         conn.should be_connected
diff --git a/spec/spec_server.rb b/spec/server_helper.rb
similarity index 91%
rename from spec/spec_server.rb
rename to spec/server_helper.rb
index a83dc2f..80c8ee4 100644
--- a/spec/spec_server.rb
+++ b/spec/server_helper.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # encoding: utf-8
 
-module SpecServer
+module ServerHelper
   include AMQP::Server
   
   class << self
diff --git a/spec/spec_helper.rb b/spec/spec_helper.rb
index 74cfe0f..0301a91 100644
--- a/spec/spec_helper.rb
+++ b/spec/spec_helper.rb
@@ -1,16 +1,18 @@
 # encoding: utf-8
 
 # add project-relative load paths
-$LOAD_PATH.unshift File.dirname(__FILE__)
-$LOAD_PATH.unshift File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), '..', 'lib')
+$LOAD_PATH.unshift File.expand_path(File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), '..', 'lib'))
+$LOAD_PATH.unshift File.expand_path(File.dirname(__FILE__))
 
 # require stuff
 require 'rubygems'
+
 begin
   require 'mq'
-rescue Object => e
+rescue LoadError => e
   require 'amqp'
 end
 require 'amqp/failover'
+
 require 'rspec'
-require 'rspec/autorun'
\ No newline at end of file
+require 'rspec/autorun'
diff --git a/spec/unit/amqp/failover/config_spec.rb b/spec/unit/amqp/failover/config_spec.rb
index 0372306..f335e5e 100644
--- a/spec/unit/amqp/failover/config_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/unit/amqp/failover/config_spec.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 # encoding: utf-8
+$LOAD_PATH.unshift File.expand_path(File.dirname(__FILE__))
 
 require 'spec_helper'