diff --git a/akka-core/src/test/scala/StmSpec.scala b/akka-core/src/test/scala/StmSpec.scala
index 667b4b8df4..f9ce0c7366 100644
--- a/akka-core/src/test/scala/StmSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-core/src/test/scala/StmSpec.scala
@@ -81,5 +81,33 @@ class StmSpec extends
       }
       total should equal(0)
     }
+
+    it("should be able to initialize with atomic block inside actor constructor") {
+      try {
+        val actor = actorOf[StmTestActor]
+      } catch {
+        case e => fail(e.toString)
+      }
+    }
   }
 }
+
+class StmTestActor extends Actor {
+  import se.scalablesolutions.akka.persistence.redis.RedisStorage
+  import se.scalablesolutions.akka.stm.Transaction.Global
+  private var eventLog = Global.atomic { RedisStorage.getVector("log") }
+
+  def receive = { case _ => () }
+    /*
+    case msg @ EnrichTrade(trade) => 
+      atomic { eventLog + msg.toString.getBytes("UTF-8") }
+
+    case msg @ ValueTrade(trade) => 
+      atomic { eventLog + msg.toString.getBytes("UTF-8") }
+
+    case GetEventLog(trade) => 
+      val eventList = atomic { eventLog.map(bytes => new String(bytes, "UTF-8")).toList }
+      reply(EventLog(eventList))
+  }
+  */
+}
diff --git a/akka-fun-test-java/pom.xml b/akka-fun-test-java/pom.xml
index c4851757c1..c8ddef3320 100644
--- a/akka-fun-test-java/pom.xml
+++ b/akka-fun-test-java/pom.xml
@@ -6,26 +6,42 @@
   <name>Akka Functional Tests in Java</name>
   <artifactId>akka-fun-test-java</artifactId>
   <groupId>se.scalablesolutions.akka</groupId>
-  <version>0.7</version>
+  <version>0.9</version>
   <packaging>jar</packaging>
 
   <properties>
-    <scala.version>2.7.7</scala.version>
+    <scala.version>2.8.0.RC2</scala.version>
     <atmosphere.version>0.5.2</atmosphere.version>
     <jersey.version>1.1.5</jersey.version>
     <grizzly.version>1.9.18-i</grizzly.version>
   </properties>
 
+  <repositories>
+    <repository>
+      <id>embedded-repo</id>
+      <name>Embedded Repository</name>
+      <url>file://Users/jboner/src/scala/akka/embedded-repo</url>
+    </repository>
+  </repositories>
+
+  <pluginRepositories>
+    <pluginRepository>
+      <id>scala-tools.org</id>
+      <name>Scala-Tools Maven2 Repository</name>
+      <url>http://scala-tools.org/repo-releases</url>
+    </pluginRepository>
+  </pluginRepositories>
+
   <dependencies>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>se.scalablesolutions.akka</groupId>
-      <artifactId>akka-kernel_2.7.7</artifactId>
-      <version>0.7</version>
+      <artifactId>akka-kernel_2.8.0.RC2</artifactId>
+      <version>0.9</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>se.scalablesolutions.akka</groupId>
-      <artifactId>akka-persistence-cassandra_2.7.7</artifactId>
-      <version>0.7</version>
+      <artifactId>akka-persistence-cassandra_2.8.0.RC2</artifactId>
+      <version>0.9</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>com.google.protobuf</groupId>