diff --git a/templates/zephyr/index.html b/templates/zephyr/index.html
index cf1b922729..19f7c314e0 100644
--- a/templates/zephyr/index.html
+++ b/templates/zephyr/index.html
@@ -33,7 +33,6 @@
 {% endif %}
 
 <script type="text/javascript">
-var zephyr_array = {{ zephyr_array }};
 var initial_pointer = {{ user_profile.pointer }};
 var email = "{{ user_profile.user.email }}";
 var class_list = {{ classes }};
diff --git a/zephyr/static/js/zephyr.js b/zephyr/static/js/zephyr.js
index c068592b3e..42bc4417a4 100644
--- a/zephyr/static/js/zephyr.js
+++ b/zephyr/static/js/zephyr.js
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ function register_huddle_onclick(zephyr_row, sender) {
     });
 }
 
+var zephyr_array = [];
 var zephyr_dict = {};
 var status_classes = 'alert-error alert-success alert-info';
 
@@ -759,12 +760,6 @@ function add_messages(zephyrs) {
     add_to_table(zephyrs, 'zhome', function () { return true; });
 }
 
-$(function () {
-    add_messages(zephyr_array);
-    select_and_show_by_id(initial_pointer);
-    get_updates_longpoll();
-});
-
 function clear_compose_box() {
     $("#zephyr_compose").find('input[type=text], textarea').val('');
 }
@@ -787,6 +782,8 @@ function get_updates_longpoll() {
                 add_messages(data.zephyrs);
                 $.each(data.zephyrs, function () {
                     zephyr_array.push(this);
+                    if (this.id === initial_pointer)
+                        select_and_show_by_id(initial_pointer);
                 });
             }
             setTimeout(get_updates_longpoll, 0);
@@ -817,6 +814,7 @@ function get_updates_longpoll() {
 }
 
 $(function () {
+    get_updates_longpoll();
     update_autocomplete();
     $('.button-slide').click(function () {
         show_compose('class', $("#class"));
diff --git a/zephyr/views.py b/zephyr/views.py
index 194c4ea400..15cbeddea0 100644
--- a/zephyr/views.py
+++ b/zephyr/views.py
@@ -96,8 +96,6 @@ def home(request):
         user_profile.pointer = min([zephyr.id for zephyr in zephyrs])
         user_profile.save()
 
-    zephyr_json = simplejson.dumps([zephyr.to_dict() for zephyr in zephyrs])
-
     # Populate personals autocomplete list based on everyone in your
     # realm.  Later we might want a 2-layer autocomplete, where we
     # consider specially some sort of "buddy list" who e.g. you've
@@ -118,8 +116,7 @@ def home(request):
     instances = list(set(zephyr.instance for zephyr in class_zephyrs))
 
     return render_to_response('zephyr/index.html',
-                              {'zephyr_array' : zephyr_json,
-                               'user_profile': user_profile,
+                              {'user_profile': user_profile,
                                'email_hash'  : hashlib.md5(settings.HASH_SALT + user_profile.user.email).hexdigest(),
                                'people'      : simplejson.dumps(people),
                                'classes'     : simplejson.dumps(classes),