diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/actor/ActorRef.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/actor/ActorRef.scala
index 6f176461e7..09477e9c03 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/actor/ActorRef.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/actor/ActorRef.scala
@@ -972,12 +972,11 @@ class LocalActorRef private[akka] (
       if (future.isDefined) future.get
       else throw new IllegalActorStateException("Expected a future from remote call to actor " + toString)
     } else {
-      val future = if (senderFuture.isDefined) senderFuture.get
-      else new DefaultCompletableFuture[T](timeout)
+      val future = if (senderFuture.isDefined) senderFuture else Some(new DefaultCompletableFuture[T](timeout))
       val invocation = new MessageInvocation(
-        this, message, senderOption, Some(future.asInstanceOf[CompletableFuture[Any]]), transactionSet.get)
+        this, message, senderOption, future.asInstanceOf[Some[CompletableFuture[Any]]], transactionSet.get)
       dispatcher dispatchMessage invocation
-      future
+      future.get
     }
   }
 
@@ -1114,10 +1113,10 @@ class LocalActorRef private[akka] (
         true //Done
       }
 
-      if (!success)
-        attemptRestart
+      if (success)
+        () //Alles gut
       else
-        () //Yay!
+        attemptRestart
     }
 
     attemptRestart() //Tailrecursion
@@ -1147,12 +1146,9 @@ class LocalActorRef private[akka] (
   // ========= PRIVATE FUNCTIONS =========
 
   private[this] def newActor: Actor = {
-    Actor.actorRefInCreation.withValue(Some(this)) {
-      val actor = actorFactory()
-      if (actor eq null) throw new ActorInitializationException(
-        "Actor instance passed to ActorRef can not be 'null'")
-      actor
-    }
+    val a = Actor.actorRefInCreation.withValue(Some(this)) { actorFactory() }
+    if (a eq null) throw new ActorInitializationException("Actor instance passed to ActorRef can not be 'null'")
+    a
   }
 
   private def joinTransaction(message: Any) = if (isTransactionSetInScope) {
@@ -1590,7 +1586,7 @@ trait ScalaActorRef extends ActorRefShared { ref: ActorRef =>
     if (isRunning) {
       if (sender.get.senderFuture.isDefined) postMessageToMailboxAndCreateFutureResultWithTimeout(
         message, timeout, sender.get.sender, sender.get.senderFuture)
-      else if (sender.get.sender.isDefined) postMessageToMailbox(message, Some(sender.get.sender.get))
+      else if (sender.get.sender.isDefined) postMessageToMailbox(message, sender.get.sender)
       else throw new IllegalActorStateException("Can't forward message when initial sender is not an actor")
     } else throw new ActorInitializationException("Actor has not been started, you need to invoke 'actor.start' before using it")
   }
@@ -1619,7 +1615,8 @@ trait ScalaActorRef extends ActorRefShared { ref: ActorRef =>
       senderFuture.get completeWithResult message
       true
     } else if (sender.isDefined) {
-      sender.get ! message
+      //TODO: optimize away this allocation, perhaps by having implicit self: Option[ActorRef] in signature
+      sender.get.!(message)(Some(this))
       true
     } else false
   }
@@ -1634,9 +1631,10 @@ trait ScalaActorRef extends ActorRefShared { ref: ActorRef =>
         def !(msg: Any) = future completeWithResult msg
       }
     } else if (sender.isDefined) {
+      val someSelf = Some(this)
       new Channel[Any] {
         val client = sender.get
-        def !(msg: Any) = client ! msg
+        def !(msg: Any) = client.!(msg)(someSelf)
       }
     } else throw new IllegalActorStateException("No channel available")
   }
diff --git a/project/build/AkkaProject.scala b/project/build/AkkaProject.scala
index 960d1ac892..f7b261edb3 100644
--- a/project/build/AkkaProject.scala
+++ b/project/build/AkkaProject.scala
@@ -21,9 +21,10 @@ class AkkaParentProject(info: ProjectInfo) extends DefaultProject(info) {
         "-Xmigration",
         "-Xcheckinit",
         "-Xstrict-warnings",
+       // "-optimise", //Uncomment this for release compile
         "-Xwarninit",
         "-encoding", "utf8")
-        .map(x => CompileOption(x))
+        .map(CompileOption(_))
   override def javaCompileOptions = JavaCompileOption("-Xlint:unchecked") :: super.javaCompileOptions.toList
 
   // -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -248,6 +249,8 @@ class AkkaParentProject(info: ProjectInfo) extends DefaultProject(info) {
 
     lazy val hbase_core = "org.apache.hbase" % "hbase-core" % "0.20.6" % "compile"
 
+    lazy val google_coll    = "com.google.collections" % "google-collections"  % "1.0"             % "compile"
+
     //Riak PB Client
     lazy val riak_pb_client = "com.trifork"   %  "riak-java-pb-client"      % "1.0-for-akka-by-ticktock"  % "compile"
 
@@ -256,8 +259,6 @@ class AkkaParentProject(info: ProjectInfo) extends DefaultProject(info) {
     lazy val camel_spring   = "org.apache.camel"       % "camel-spring"        % CAMEL_VERSION     % "test"
     lazy val cassandra_clhm = "org.apache.cassandra"   % "clhm-production"     % CASSANDRA_VERSION % "test"
     lazy val commons_coll   = "commons-collections"    % "commons-collections" % "3.2.1"           % "test"
-    lazy val google_coll    = "com.google.collections" % "google-collections"  % "1.0"             % "test"
-    lazy val google_coll_compile    = "com.google.collections" % "google-collections"  % "1.0"             % "compile"
 
     lazy val high_scale     = "org.apache.cassandra"   % "high-scale-lib"      % CASSANDRA_VERSION % "test"
     lazy val testJetty      = "org.eclipse.jetty"      % "jetty-server"        % JETTY_VERSION     % "test"
@@ -275,10 +276,10 @@ class AkkaParentProject(info: ProjectInfo) extends DefaultProject(info) {
     lazy val jetty_mortbay  = "org.mortbay.jetty"      % "jetty"               % "6.1.14"          % "test"
 
     //voldemort testing
-    lazy val jdom = "org.jdom" % "jdom" % "1.1" % "test"
-    lazy val vold_jetty = "org.mortbay.jetty" % "jetty" % "6.1.18" % "test"
-    lazy val velocity = "org.apache.velocity" % "velocity" % "1.6.2" % "test"
-    lazy val dbcp = "commons-dbcp" % "commons-dbcp" % "1.2.2" % "test"
+    lazy val jdom           = "org.jdom"               % "jdom"                % "1.1"             % "test"
+    lazy val vold_jetty     = "org.mortbay.jetty"      % "jetty"               % "6.1.18"          % "test"
+    lazy val velocity       = "org.apache.velocity"    % "velocity"            % "1.6.2"           % "test"
+    lazy val dbcp           = "commons-dbcp"           % "commons-dbcp"        % "1.2.2"          % "test"
   }
 
   // -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -630,7 +631,7 @@ class AkkaParentProject(info: ProjectInfo) extends DefaultProject(info) {
 
     //testing
     val scalatest = Dependencies.scalatest
-    val google_coll_compile = Dependencies.google_coll_compile
+    val google_coll  = Dependencies.google_coll
     val jdom = Dependencies.jdom
     val jetty = Dependencies.vold_jetty
     val velocity = Dependencies.velocity