diff --git a/git-vain b/git-vain
index 753a861..484f197 100755
--- a/git-vain
+++ b/git-vain
@@ -2,10 +2,16 @@
 
 require 'digest/sha1'
 
-MSG = 'dead'
-base = `git cat-file -p HEAD`
+def get_message
+  msg = `git config vein.default`.chomp
+  unless msg =~ /\A[a-f0-9]{2,10}\z/
+    abort "ERROR: vein.default not set, or not lowercase hex\nhint: git config --global --add vein.default <hex>"
+  end
+  msg
+end
 
-def parse_commit(original)
+def parse_commit
+  original = `git cat-file -p HEAD`
   parts = original.split(/(^author.*> |committer.*> )(\d+)(.*$)/, 3)
   [ parts[0..1].join,
     parts[2   ].to_i,
@@ -14,36 +20,39 @@ def parse_commit(original)
     parts[7..-1].join ]
 end
 
-@head, @t_author, @middle, @t_committer, @rest = parse_commit(base)
+def format_progress(ad, cd, hashes, rewrite="\r")
+  print "∆author: %5d, ∆committor: %5d, khash: %d#{rewrite}" % [ad,cd,hashes/1000]
+end
 
-def search
+def search(message, parsed_commit)
+  puts "searching for: #{message}"
+  @head, @t_author, @middle, @t_committer, @rest = parsed_commit
   counter = 0
+
   (0..3600).each do |a|
-  [a*1,a*-1].uniq.each do |ao|
-    auth_t = @t_author+ao
+  [a*1,a*-1].uniq.each do |ad|
+    auth_t = @t_author+ad
   (0..3600).each do |c|
-  [c*1,c*-1].uniq.each do |co|
-    comm_t = @t_committer+co
-  #(0..80  ).each do |space|
+  [c*1,c*-1].uniq.each do |cd|
+    comm_t = @t_committer+cd
     content = [@head, auth_t, @middle, comm_t, @rest].join
     store = "commit #{content.length}\0" + content
     sha1 = Digest::SHA1.hexdigest(store)
 
-    if sha1[0..3] == MSG
-      puts "comm_t: #{co} auth_t: #{ao} counter: #{counter}"
+    if sha1.start_with?(message)
+      format_progress(ad,cd,counter,"\n")
       return [content,sha1]
     end
 
-    counter+=1
-    puts counter if (counter%100000).zero?
-  #end
+    counter += 1
+    format_progress(ad,cd,counter) if (counter%100000).zero?
   end
   end
   end
   end
 end
 
-content, sha1 = search()
+content, sha1 = search(get_message, parse_commit)
 
 exit if ARGV.include? "--dry-run"
 
@@ -58,4 +67,5 @@ else
   puts "failed, git doesn't agree:"
   puts sha1
   puts sha2
+  exit 1
 end