diff --git a/app/com/linkedin/drelephant/ElephantFetcher.java b/app/com/linkedin/drelephant/ElephantFetcher.java
index d2a557768..180f6a690 100644
--- a/app/com/linkedin/drelephant/ElephantFetcher.java
+++ b/app/com/linkedin/drelephant/ElephantFetcher.java
@@ -87,7 +87,11 @@ private TaskReport[] getReduceTaskReports(JobID job_id) throws IOException {
     }
 
     public JobStatus[] getJobList() throws IOException {
-        return jobClient.getAllJobs();
+        JobStatus[] result = jobClient.getAllJobs();
+        if(result == null) {
+            throw new IOException("Unable to connect to Jobtracker");
+        }
+        return result;
     }
 
     public Properties getJobConf(RunningJob job) throws IOException, AuthenticationException {
diff --git a/app/com/linkedin/drelephant/ElephantRunner.java b/app/com/linkedin/drelephant/ElephantRunner.java
index 5e998997c..91fd61cc7 100644
--- a/app/com/linkedin/drelephant/ElephantRunner.java
+++ b/app/com/linkedin/drelephant/ElephantRunner.java
@@ -54,9 +54,6 @@ public Void run() {
                         logger.info("Fetching job list.");
                         hadoopSecurity.checkLogin();
                         JobStatus[] jobs = fetcher.getJobList();
-                        if (jobs == null) {
-                            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Jobtracker returned 'null' for job list");
-                        }
 
                         Set<JobID> successJobs = filterSuccessfulJobs(jobs);
                         successJobs = filterPreviousJobs(successJobs, previousJobs);
@@ -83,7 +80,7 @@ public Void run() {
                         try {
                             Thread.sleep(waitTime);
                         } catch (InterruptedException e) {
-                            e.printStackTrace();
+                            logger.error("Thread interrupted", e);
                         }
                         waitTime = nextRun - System.currentTimeMillis();
                     }
diff --git a/app/com/linkedin/drelephant/util/Utils.java b/app/com/linkedin/drelephant/util/Utils.java
index 26a712e2d..1a37516eb 100644
--- a/app/com/linkedin/drelephant/util/Utils.java
+++ b/app/com/linkedin/drelephant/util/Utils.java
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package com.linkedin.drelephant.util;
 
 import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
 
 public class Utils {
 
@@ -38,8 +39,8 @@ public static String[][] parseCsvLines(String data) {
     }
 
     public static String[] parseCsvLine(String line) {
-        ArrayList<String> store = new ArrayList<String>();
-        StringBuffer curVal = new StringBuffer();
+        List<String> store = new ArrayList<String>();
+        StringBuilder curVal = new StringBuilder();
         boolean inquotes = false;
         for (int i = 0; i < line.length(); i++) {
             char ch = line.charAt(i);
@@ -59,7 +60,7 @@ public static String[] parseCsvLine(String line) {
                     }
                 } else if (ch == ',') {
                     store.add(curVal.toString());
-                    curVal = new StringBuffer();
+                    curVal = new StringBuilder();
                 } else {
                     curVal.append(ch);
                 }