diff --git a/src/kernel/mod.rs b/src/kernel/mod.rs
index e60c5f2a..937cd47a 100644
--- a/src/kernel/mod.rs
+++ b/src/kernel/mod.rs
@@ -1951,7 +1951,15 @@ async fn make_event_loop(
                     }
                 },
                 kernel_message = recv_in_loop.recv() => {
-                    let kernel_message = kernel_message.expect("fatal: event loop died");
+                    let mut kernel_message = kernel_message.expect("fatal: event loop died");
+                    // the kernel treats the node-string "our" as a special case,
+                    // and replaces it with the name of the node this kernel is running.
+                    if kernel_message.source.node == "our" {
+                        kernel_message.source.node = our_name.clone();
+                    }
+                    if kernel_message.target.node == "our" {
+                        kernel_message.target.node = our_name.clone();
+                    }
                     //
                     // here: are the special kernel-level capabilities checks!
                     //
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index c40892c7..d08fad73 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -228,7 +228,7 @@ async fn main() {
 
     // the boolean flag determines whether the runtime module is *public* or not,
     // where public means that any process can always message it.
-    let mut runtime_extensions = vec![
+    let runtime_extensions = vec![
         (
             ProcessId::new(Some("filesystem"), "sys", "uqbar"),
             fs_message_sender,
diff --git a/src/timer.rs b/src/timer.rs
index b6c59a72..72e210a1 100644
--- a/src/timer.rs
+++ b/src/timer.rs
@@ -79,33 +79,52 @@ pub async fn timer_service(
     loop {
         tokio::select! {
             Some(km) = timer_message_receiver.recv() => {
-                // we only handle Requests which contain a little-endian u64 as IPC
+                // ignore Requests sent from other nodes
+                if km.source.node != our { continue };
+                // we only handle Requests which contain a little-endian u64 as IPC,
+                // except for a special "debug" message, which prints the current state
                 let Message::Request(req) = km.message else { continue };
+                if req.ipc == "debug".as_bytes() {
+                    let _ = print_tx.send(Printout {
+                        verbosity: 0,
+                        content: format!("timer service active timers ({}):", timer_map.timers.len()),
+                    }).await;
+                    for (k, v) in timer_map.timers.iter() {
+                        let _ = print_tx.send(Printout {
+                            verbosity: 0,
+                            content: format!("{}: {:?}", k, v),
+                        }).await;
+                    }
+                    continue
+                }
                 let Ok(bytes): Result<[u8; 8], _> = req.ipc.try_into() else { continue };
-                let time = u64::from_le_bytes(bytes);
-                // if the timer is set to pop in the past, we immediately respond
+                let timer_secs = u64::from_le_bytes(bytes);
+                // if the timer is set to pop in 0 seconds, we immediately respond
                 // otherwise, store in our persisted map, and spawn a task that
                 // sleeps for the given time, then sends the response
                 let now = std::time::SystemTime::now()
                     .duration_since(std::time::UNIX_EPOCH)
                     .unwrap()
                     .as_secs();
-                if time <= now {
+                let pop_time = now + timer_secs;
+                if timer_secs == 0 {
                     send_response(&our, km.id, km.rsvp.unwrap_or(km.source), &kernel_message_sender).await;
-                } else if timer_map.contains(time) {
-                    timer_map.insert(time, km.id, km.rsvp.unwrap_or(km.source));
-                } else {
-                    timer_map.insert(time, km.id, km.rsvp.unwrap_or(km.source));
+                    continue
+                }
+                if !timer_map.contains(pop_time) {
                     timer_tasks.spawn(async move {
-                        tokio::time::sleep(tokio::time::Duration::from_secs(time - now)).await;
-                        return time
+                        tokio::time::sleep(std::time::Duration::from_secs(timer_secs)).await;
+                        return pop_time
                     });
                 }
+                timer_map.insert(pop_time, km.id, km.rsvp.unwrap_or(km.source));
+                persist_state(&our, &timer_map, &kernel_message_sender).await;
             }
             Some(Ok(time)) = timer_tasks.join_next() => {
                 // when a timer pops, we send the response to the process(es) that set
                 // the timer(s), and then remove it from our persisted map
                 let Some(timers) = timer_map.remove(time) else { continue };
+                persist_state(&our, &timer_map, &kernel_message_sender).await;
                 for (id, addr) in timers {
                     send_response(&our, id, addr, &kernel_message_sender).await;
                 }
@@ -126,7 +145,8 @@ impl TimerMap {
     fn insert(&mut self, pop_time: u64, id: u64, addr: Address) {
         self.timers
             .entry(pop_time)
-            .and_modify(|v| v.push((id, addr)));
+            .or_insert(vec![])
+            .push((id, addr));
     }
 
     fn contains(&mut self, pop_time: u64) -> bool {