diff --git a/res/values-de/strings.xml b/res/values-de/strings.xml
index 1aa55f5d3..fdbcef9cf 100644
--- a/res/values-de/strings.xml
+++ b/res/values-de/strings.xml
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@
             dates. c.f. Java's SimpleDateFormat -->
         <string name="daysVertical">T\na\ng\ne</string> <!-- vertical labels
             are used in the number dialogs -->
-        <string name="hoursVertical">S\nt\nu\nn\nd\ne\nn</string>
+        <string name="hoursVertical">U\nh\nr</string>
         <plurals name="Ndays">
             <item quantity="one">1 Tag</item>
             <item quantity="other">%d Tage</item>
diff --git a/src/com/mdt/rtm/Invoker.java b/src/com/mdt/rtm/Invoker.java
index 5533aa746..bbc260d46 100644
--- a/src/com/mdt/rtm/Invoker.java
+++ b/src/com/mdt/rtm/Invoker.java
@@ -39,7 +39,6 @@ import org.apache.http.HttpVersion;
 import org.apache.http.client.HttpClient;
 import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpGet;
 import org.apache.http.impl.DefaultConnectionReuseStrategy;
-import org.apache.http.impl.DefaultHttpClientConnection;
 import org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultHttpClient;
 import org.apache.http.message.BasicHeader;
 import org.apache.http.params.BasicHttpParams;
@@ -115,8 +114,6 @@ public class Invoker {
 
   private HttpClient httpClient;
 
-  private DefaultHttpClientConnection connection;
-
   public Invoker(String serverHostName, int serverPortNumber, String serviceRelativeUri, ApplicationInfo applicationInfo)
       throws ServiceInternalException
   {
@@ -315,18 +312,7 @@ public class Invoker {
 //    }
     finally
     {
-      if (connection != null && (response == null || connectionStrategy.keepAlive(response, context) == false))
-      {
-        try
-        {
-          connection.close();
-        }
-        catch (IOException exception)
-        {
-          Log.w(TAG, new StringBuffer("Could not close properly the socket connection to '").append(connection.getRemoteAddress()).append("' on port ").append(
-              connection.getRemotePort()).toString(), exception);
-        }
-      }
+        httpClient.getConnectionManager().closeExpiredConnections();
     }
 
     lastInvocation = System.currentTimeMillis();
diff --git a/src/com/mdt/rtm/data/RtmData.java b/src/com/mdt/rtm/data/RtmData.java
index ddb92bd33..209ad1bd6 100644
--- a/src/com/mdt/rtm/data/RtmData.java
+++ b/src/com/mdt/rtm/data/RtmData.java
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ public abstract class RtmData
     return result.toString();
   }
 
-  public static Date parseDate(String s)
+  public synchronized static Date parseDate(String s)
   {
     try
     {
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ public abstract class RtmData
     }
   }
 
-  public static String formatDate(Date d)
+  public synchronized static String formatDate(Date d)
   {
     return DATE_FORMAT.format(new Date(d.getTime() - TimeZone.getDefault().getOffset(d.getTime()))) + "Z";
   }
diff --git a/src/com/mdt/rtm/data/RtmTaskNote.java b/src/com/mdt/rtm/data/RtmTaskNote.java
index d3e9716f9..df6f8489a 100644
--- a/src/com/mdt/rtm/data/RtmTaskNote.java
+++ b/src/com/mdt/rtm/data/RtmTaskNote.java
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ import org.w3c.dom.Text;
 
 /**
  * Represents a single task note.
- * 
+ *
  * @author Edouard Mercier
  * @since 2008.04.22
  */
@@ -50,14 +50,14 @@ public class RtmTaskNote
     created = parseDate(element.getAttribute("created"));
     modified = parseDate(element.getAttribute("modified"));
     title = element.getAttribute("title");
-    
+
     // The note text itself might be split across multiple children of the
     // note element, so get all of the children.
     for (int i=0; i<element.getChildNodes().getLength(); i++) {
     	Text innerText = (Text) element.getChildNodes().item(i);
-    	
+
     	if (text == null) text = "";
-    	text = text.concat(innerText.getData().toString());
+    	text = text.concat(innerText.getData());
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/src/com/timsu/astrid/activities/TagListSubActivity.java b/src/com/timsu/astrid/activities/TagListSubActivity.java
index db44314fa..cac6ff10b 100644
--- a/src/com/timsu/astrid/activities/TagListSubActivity.java
+++ b/src/com/timsu/astrid/activities/TagListSubActivity.java
@@ -117,7 +117,9 @@ public class TagListSubActivity extends SubActivity {
         SIZE {
             @Override
             int compareTo(TagListSubActivity self, TagModelForView arg0, TagModelForView arg1) {
-                return self.tagToTaskCount.get(arg1) - self.tagToTaskCount.get(arg0);
+                synchronized(self) {
+                    return self.tagToTaskCount.get(arg1) - self.tagToTaskCount.get(arg0);
+                }
             }
         };
 
@@ -169,13 +171,14 @@ public class TagListSubActivity extends SubActivity {
 
         handler.post(new Runnable() {
             public void run() {
-                // set up our adapter
-                final TagListAdapter tagAdapter = new TagListAdapter(getParent(),
-                        android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1, tagArray,
-                        tagToTaskCount);
-
-                // set up ui components
-                setUpListUI(tagAdapter);
+                synchronized(TagListSubActivity.this) {
+                    // set up our adapter
+                    final TagListAdapter tagAdapter = new TagListAdapter(getParent(),
+                            android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1, tagArray,
+                            tagToTaskCount);
+                    // set up ui components
+                    setUpListUI(tagAdapter);
+                }
                 loadingText.setVisibility(View.GONE);
             }
         });
diff --git a/src/com/timsu/astrid/activities/TaskListAdapter.java b/src/com/timsu/astrid/activities/TaskListAdapter.java
index 1a13c954a..65b8150b0 100644
--- a/src/com/timsu/astrid/activities/TaskListAdapter.java
+++ b/src/com/timsu/astrid/activities/TaskListAdapter.java
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ public class TaskListAdapter extends ArrayAdapter<TaskModelForList> {
                     nameValue = "(" + r.getString(R.string.taskList_hiddenPrefix) + ") " + nameValue;
                     task.putCachedLabel(KEY_HIDDEN, CACHE_TRUE);
                 }
-                cachedResult = nameValue.toString();
+                cachedResult = nameValue;
                 task.putCachedLabel(KEY_NAME, cachedResult);
             }
             name.setText(cachedResult);
diff --git a/src/com/timsu/astrid/activities/TaskListSubActivity.java b/src/com/timsu/astrid/activities/TaskListSubActivity.java
index ad80a2868..4a878463a 100644
--- a/src/com/timsu/astrid/activities/TaskListSubActivity.java
+++ b/src/com/timsu/astrid/activities/TaskListSubActivity.java
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ public class TaskListSubActivity extends SubActivity {
     static boolean syncPreferencesOpened = false;
 
     // other instance variables
-    class TaskListContext {
+    static class TaskListContext {
         Map<TagIdentifier, TagModelForView> tagMap;
         ArrayList<TaskModelForList> taskArray;
         HashMap<Long, TaskModelForList> tasksById;
diff --git a/src/com/timsu/astrid/data/AbstractModel.java b/src/com/timsu/astrid/data/AbstractModel.java
index 4f3d5ed19..98053c025 100644
--- a/src/com/timsu/astrid/data/AbstractModel.java
+++ b/src/com/timsu/astrid/data/AbstractModel.java
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractModel {
         setValues.put(field, newValue);
     }
 
-    protected static HashMap<Class<?>, HashMap<String, Integer>>
+    protected static final HashMap<Class<?>, HashMap<String, Integer>>
         columnIndexCache = new HashMap<Class<?>, HashMap<String, Integer>>();
     private int getColumnIndex(String field) {
         HashMap<String, Integer> classCache;
diff --git a/src/com/timsu/astrid/data/tag/TagController.java b/src/com/timsu/astrid/data/tag/TagController.java
index ecfdcc1ab..f0e26abcf 100644
--- a/src/com/timsu/astrid/data/tag/TagController.java
+++ b/src/com/timsu/astrid/data/tag/TagController.java
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ public class TagController extends AbstractController {
                 AbstractTagModel.NAME + " = ?", new String[] {name}, null, null, null, null);
 
         try {
-            if (cursor != null) {
+            if (cursor != null && cursor.getCount() > 0) {
                 cursor.moveToFirst();
                 TagModelForView model = new TagModelForView(cursor);
                 return model;
diff --git a/src/com/timsu/astrid/sync/RTMSyncProvider.java b/src/com/timsu/astrid/sync/RTMSyncProvider.java
index ff8f5f1c9..034803e8c 100644
--- a/src/com/timsu/astrid/sync/RTMSyncProvider.java
+++ b/src/com/timsu/astrid/sync/RTMSyncProvider.java
@@ -246,8 +246,8 @@ public class RTMSyncProvider extends SynchronizationProvider {
                     	postUpdate(new Runnable() {
                             public void run() {
                                 DialogUtilities.okDialog(context,
-                                        "Sorry, list '" + entry.getValue() +
-                                        "' import failed. Try again later!", null);
+                                        "Sorry, import of list '" + entry.getValue() +
+                                        "' failed. Try again later!", null);
                             }
                         });
                         continue;
@@ -263,6 +263,7 @@ public class RTMSyncProvider extends SynchronizationProvider {
             Preferences.setSyncRTMLastSync(context, syncTime);
 
         } catch (Exception e) {
+            Log.e("rtmsync", "Error in synchronization", e);
             showError(context, e, null);
 
         } finally {
@@ -324,7 +325,7 @@ public class RTMSyncProvider extends SynchronizationProvider {
         if(dueDate != remoteTask.dueDate && dueDate != null &&
                 !dueDate.equals(remoteTask.dueDate))
             rtmService.tasks_setDueDate(timeline, id.listId, id.taskSeriesId,
-                id.taskId, dueDate, dueDate != null);
+                id.taskId, dueDate, true);
 
         // progress
         if(task.progressPercentage != null && !task.progressPercentage.equals(
diff --git a/src/com/timsu/astrid/sync/SynchronizationProvider.java b/src/com/timsu/astrid/sync/SynchronizationProvider.java
index bb81c178d..5e0a11ef8 100644
--- a/src/com/timsu/astrid/sync/SynchronizationProvider.java
+++ b/src/com/timsu/astrid/sync/SynchronizationProvider.java
@@ -259,7 +259,7 @@ public abstract class SynchronizationProvider {
             // remove it from data structures
             data.localChanges.remove(mapping);
             data.localIdToSyncMapping.remove(taskId);
-            data.remoteIdToSyncMapping.remove(mapping);
+            data.remoteIdToSyncMapping.remove(mapping.getRemoteId());
             data.remoteChangeMap.remove(taskId);
 
             // update stats