diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 6212092..dd126e8 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -8,24 +8,27 @@ module.exports = function (_opts) {
   var table = api.options.table || api.options.name;
   var serialPrefix = api.options.serialPrefix || '~s:';
 
-  api._list = function (options, cb) {
-    var offset = options.start || 0;
-    var limit = options.stop && options.stop - offset || '18446744073709551610'; 
-    client.query('SELECT id FROM ?? ORDER BY created DESC LIMIT ?, ?',
-      [table, offset, limit], function (err, rows) {
-        if (err) return cb(err);
-        console.log(rows);
-      });
+  api._tail = function (limit, cb) {
+    if (limit) limit = ' LIMIT ' + limit;
+    else limit = '';
+    client.query('SELECT id FROM ?? ORDER BY __seq DESC' + limit, table, function (err, rows) {
+      if (err) return cb(err);
+      cb(null, rows.map(function (row) {
+        return row.id;
+      }))
+    });
   };
   api._save = function (entity, cb) {
     var c = api.copy(entity);
     var errored = false;
     Object.keys(c).forEach(function (k) {
       if (errored) return;
+      if (k === 'created' || k === 'updated') {
+        c[k] = c[k].getTime();
+      }
       switch (typeof c[k]) {
         case 'boolean':
         case 'object':
-        if (c[k].getTime) return; // dates dealt with by node-mysql
         try {
           c[k] = serialPrefix + JSON.stringify(c[k]);
         }
@@ -36,7 +39,6 @@ module.exports = function (_opts) {
       }
     });
     if (errored) return;
-    //console.log('save', c);
     client.query('INSERT INTO ?? SET ? ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE ?', [table, c, c], cb);
   };
   api._load = function (id, cb) {
@@ -55,8 +57,13 @@ module.exports = function (_opts) {
             return cb(err);
           }
         }
+        else if (k === 'created' || k === 'updated') {
+          entity[k] = new Date(entity[k]);
+        }
+        else if (entity[k] === null) {
+          delete entity[k];
+        }
       });
-      //console.log('load', entity);
       cb(null, entity);
     });
   };
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 3ad4b3c..d86dd68 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
   "description": "mysql-powered functional entity system",
   "main": "index.js",
   "dependencies": {
-    "modeler": "~0.1.2"
+    "modeler": "~0.2.0"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
     "mocha": "*",
diff --git a/test/common.js b/test/common.js
index 9785b35..c0a2db3 100644
--- a/test/common.js
+++ b/test/common.js
@@ -33,21 +33,25 @@ setUp = function (done) {
       if (err) return done(err);
       client.query("CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `apples` ("
         + "`id` VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,"
-        + "`created` DATETIME,"
-        + "`updated` DATETIME,"
+        + "`__seq` BIGINT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,"
+        + "`created` BIGINT,"
+        + "`updated` BIGINT,"
         + "`rev` INT,"
         + "`size` VARCHAR(255),"
         + "`condition` TEXT,"
         + "`type` VARCHAR(255),"
-        + "`internal` VARCHAR(255),"
-        + "PRIMARY KEY (`id`)"
+        + "`__internal` VARCHAR(255),"
+        + "PRIMARY KEY (`__seq`),"
+        + "UNIQUE KEY (`id`)"
         + ") ENGINE=InnoDB", tryDone);
       client.query("CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `oranges` ("
         + "`id` VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,"
-        + "`created` DATETIME,"
-        + "`updated` DATETIME,"
+        + "`__seq` BIGINT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,"
+        + "`created` BIGINT,"
+        + "`updated` BIGINT,"
         + "`rev` INT,"
-        + "PRIMARY KEY (`id`)"
+        + "PRIMARY KEY (`__seq`),"
+        + "UNIQUE KEY (`id`)"
         + ") ENGINE=InnoDB", tryDone);
       });
   });