diff --git a/LANforge/JsonUtils.pm b/LANforge/JsonUtils.pm
index 5844486c..aec2d343 100644
--- a/LANforge/JsonUtils.pm
+++ b/LANforge/JsonUtils.pm
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ sub json_request {
       }
       return {};
    }
-   #print Dumper($response);
+   #print Dumper($response->content);
    return $::Decoder->decode($response->content);
 }
 
@@ -107,9 +107,10 @@ sub flatten_list {
    my $list_name = shift;
    my $rh_irefs = {};
    return if (!defined $rh_list);
-
+   #print "\n- FF ------------------------------------------------------------\n";
+   #print Dumper($rh_list);
+   #print "\n~ FF ------------------------------------------------------------\n";
    if (!defined $rh_list->{$list_name}) {
-      print Dumper($rh_list);
       print "flatten_list: $list_name not found\n";
       return;
    }
@@ -123,14 +124,23 @@ sub flatten_list {
       print "-------------------------------------------------\n";
       return;
    }
-   for (my $i=0; $i < @{$rh_list->{$list_name}}; $i++) {
-      my @k = keys(%{$rh_list->{$list_name}[$i]});
-      #print Dumper(\@k);
-      my $id = $k[0];
-      #print "ID[$id]\n";
-      $rh_irefs->{$id} = $rh_list->{$list_name}[$i]->{$id};
+   #print "\n- FG -------------------------------------------------------------------\n";
+   #print Dumper($rh_list->{$list_name});
+   #print "\n~ FG -------------------------------------------------------------------\n";
+   my $v = @{$rh_list->{$list_name}};
+   my @k = (@{$rh_list->{$list_name}});
+   for (my $i=0; $i < $v; $i++) {
+      my @rh_k = keys %{$k[$i]};
+      my @rh_v = values %{$k[$i]};
+      my $rh_id = $rh_k[0];
+      #print "\n- FG -------------------------------------------------------------------\n";
+      #print Dumper($rh_id);
+      #print "\n~ FG -------------------------------------------------------------------\n";
+      $rh_irefs->{$rh_id} = $rh_v[0];
    }
+   #print "\n- FG -------------------------------------------------------------------\n";
    #print Dumper($rh_irefs);
+   #print "\n~ FG -------------------------------------------------------------------\n";
    $rh_list->{"flat_list"} = $rh_irefs;
 }
 
diff --git a/json/cx_test.pl b/json/cx_test.pl
index 40c33dda..91e21fb2 100755
--- a/json/cx_test.pl
+++ b/json/cx_test.pl
@@ -59,22 +59,42 @@ my @ports_up= ();
 
 # TODO: make this a JsonUtils::list_ports()
 $uri = "/port/1/${des_resource}/list?fields=alias,device,down,phantom,port";
-logg("requesting $uri");
+logg("requesting $uri\n");
 $rh = json_request($uri);
 #print Dumper($rh);
 flatten_list($rh, 'interfaces');
+#print "\n- 1 -------------------------------------------------------------\n";
 #print Dumper($rh->{'flat_list'});
+#print "\n- 2 -------------------------------------------------------------\n";
+#print Dumper(\(keys %{$rh->{'flat_list'}}));
 for my $rh_p (keys %{$rh->{'flat_list'}}) {
-   print " $rh_p ".$rh->{'flat_list'}->{$rh_p}->{'down'};
-   if ("false" eq $rh->{'flat_list'}->{$rh_p}->{'down'}) {
+   #print "\n- 1 -------------------------------------------------------------\n";
+   #print Dumper($rh->{'flat_list'}->{$rh_p});
+   #print "\n".ref ($rh->{'flat_list'}->{$rh_p}->{'down'});
+   #print "\n".$rh->{'flat_list'}->{$rh_p}->{'down'}();
+   #print "\n- 2 -------------------------------------------------------------\n";
+   #.$rh->{'flat_list'}->{$rh_p}->{'down'};
+   
+   my $onoff = $rh->{'flat_list'}->{$rh_p}->{'down'};
+   #print "truth? $onoff\n";
+   if ($onoff) { # should force a truthy value 
       push(@ports_up, $rh_p);
    }
 }
+#print "\n- 3 -------------------------------------------------------------\n";
+#print Dumper(\@ports_up);
+#print "\n- 4 -------------------------------------------------------------\n";
 # find first station
 my $rh_sta;
-print Dumper(\@ports_up);
+#print "\n- 5 -------------------------------------------------------------\n";
+#print Dumper(\@ports_up);
+#print "\n- 5 -------------------------------------------------------------\n";
 for my $rh_up (@ports_up) {
+   #print "\n- 6 -------------------------------------------------------------\n";
+   #print Dumper($rh->{'flat_list'});
+   #print "\n- 6 -------------------------------------------------------------\n";
    my $eid = $rh->{'flat_list'}->{$rh_up}->{'port'};
+   print ("rhup: $rh_up; EID $eid\n");
    my @hunks = split(/[.]/, $eid);
    if ($hunks[1]) {
       $rh_sta = $rh_up;
diff --git a/json/l4_test.pl b/json/l4_test.pl
index 26623f24..6d94208c 100755
--- a/json/l4_test.pl
+++ b/json/l4_test.pl
@@ -65,8 +65,10 @@ $uri = "/port/1/${des_resource}/list?fields=alias,device,down,phantom,port";
 $rh = json_request($uri);
 flatten_list($rh, 'interfaces');
 for my $rh_p (keys %{$rh->{'flat_list'}}) {
-   print " down? $rh->{'flat_list'}->{$rh_p}->{'down'} ";
-   if ($rh->{'flat_list'}->{$rh_p}->{'down'} eq "false") {
+   # truthy value evaluates better
+   my $onoff = $rh->{'flat_list'}->{$rh_p}->{'down'};
+   print "$rh_p down? $onoff ";
+   if ($onoff) {
       push(@ports_up, $rh_p);
    }
 }