diff --git a/examples/simple/cluster_word_count_topology.rb b/examples/simple/cluster_word_count_topology.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index 54e148e..0000000
--- a/examples/simple/cluster_word_count_topology.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,19 +0,0 @@
-require 'red_storm'
-require 'examples/simple/random_sentence_spout'
-require 'examples/simple/split_sentence_bolt'
-require 'examples/simple/word_count_bolt'
-
-class ClusterWordCountTopology
-  def start(base_class_path)
-    builder = TopologyBuilder.new
-    builder.setSpout(1, JRubySpout.new(base_class_path, "RandomSentenceSpout"), 5)
-    builder.setBolt(2, JRubyBolt.new(base_class_path, "SplitSentenceBolt"), 4).shuffleGrouping(1)
-    builder.setBolt(3, JRubyBolt.new(base_class_path, "WordCountBolt"), 4).fieldsGrouping(2, Fields.new("word"))
-
-    conf = Config.new
-    conf.setDebug(true)
-    conf.setNumWorkers(20);
-    conf.setMaxSpoutPending(1000);
-    StormSubmitter.submitTopology("word-count", conf, builder.createTopology);
-  end
-end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/examples/simple/exclamation_bolt.rb b/examples/simple/exclamation_bolt.rb
index 86dd616..36a1093 100644
--- a/examples/simple/exclamation_bolt.rb
+++ b/examples/simple/exclamation_bolt.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 class ExclamationBolt < RedStorm::SimpleBolt
   output_fields :word
-  on_receive(:ack => true, :anchor => true) {|tuple| tuple.getString(0) + "!!!"}
+  on_receive (:ack => true, :anchor => true) {|tuple| tuple.getString(0) + "!!!"}
 end
diff --git a/examples/simple/exclamation_topology.rb b/examples/simple/exclamation_topology.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6dc5517
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/simple/exclamation_topology.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+java_import 'backtype.storm.testing.TestWordSpout'
+
+require 'red_storm'
+require 'examples/simple/exclamation_bolt'
+
+# this example topology uses the Storm TestWordSpout and our own JRuby ExclamationBolt
+
+class ExclamationTopology < RedStorm::SimpleTopology
+  spout TestWordSpout, :parallelism => 10
+  
+  bolt ExclamationBolt, :parallelism => 3 do
+    source TestWordSpout, :shuffle
+  end
+  
+  bolt ExclamationBolt, :id => :exclamation_bolt2, :parallelism => 2 do
+    source ExclamationBolt, :shuffle
+  end
+
+  configure do |env|
+    case env
+    when :local
+      debug true
+      max_task_parallelism 3
+    when :cluster
+      debug true
+      num_workers 20
+      max_spout_pending(1000);
+    end
+  end
+
+  on_submit do |env|
+    if env == :local
+      sleep(5)
+      cluster.shutdown
+    end
+  end
+end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/examples/simple/exclamation_topology2.rb b/examples/simple/exclamation_topology2.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f790e8c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/simple/exclamation_topology2.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+java_import 'backtype.storm.testing.TestWordSpout'
+
+require 'red_storm'
+
+# this example topology uses the Storm TestWordSpout and our own JRuby ExclamationBolt
+# and a locally defined ExclamationBolt
+
+class ExclamationBolt < RedStorm::SimpleBolt
+  output_fields :word
+  on_receive(:ack => true, :anchor => true) {|tuple| "!#{tuple.getString(0)}!"}
+end
+
+class ExclamationTopology2 < RedStorm::SimpleTopology
+  spout TestWordSpout, :parallelism => 10
+  
+  bolt ExclamationBolt, :parallelism => 3 do
+    source TestWordSpout, :shuffle
+  end
+  
+  bolt ExclamationBolt, :id => :ignore, :parallelism => 2 do
+    source ExclamationBolt, :shuffle
+  end
+
+  configure do |env|
+    case env
+    when :local
+      debug true
+      max_task_parallelism 3
+    when :cluster
+      debug true
+      num_workers 20
+      max_spout_pending(1000);
+    end
+  end
+
+  on_submit do |env|
+    if env == :local
+      sleep(5)
+      cluster.shutdown
+    end
+  end
+end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/examples/simple/local_exclamation_topology.rb b/examples/simple/local_exclamation_topology.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index dcb1d98..0000000
--- a/examples/simple/local_exclamation_topology.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,25 +0,0 @@
-java_import 'backtype.storm.testing.TestWordSpout'
-
-require 'red_storm'
-require 'examples/simple/exclamation_bolt'
-
-# this example topology uses the Storm TestWordSpout and our own JRuby ExclamationBolt
-
-class LocalExclamationTopology
-  def start(base_class_path)
-    builder = TopologyBuilder.new
-    
-    builder.setSpout(1, TestWordSpout.new, 10)     
-    builder.setBolt(2, JRubyBolt.new(base_class_path, "ExclamationBolt"), 3).shuffleGrouping(1)
-    builder.setBolt(3, JRubyBolt.new(base_class_path, "ExclamationBolt"), 2).shuffleGrouping(2)
-            
-    conf = Config.new
-    conf.setDebug(true)
-    
-    cluster = LocalCluster.new
-    cluster.submitTopology("test", conf, builder.createTopology)
-    sleep(5)
-    cluster.killTopology("test")
-    cluster.shutdown
-  end
-end
diff --git a/examples/simple/local_exclamation_topology2.rb b/examples/simple/local_exclamation_topology2.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index 636e3c7..0000000
--- a/examples/simple/local_exclamation_topology2.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,29 +0,0 @@
-java_import 'backtype.storm.testing.TestWordSpout'
-
-require 'red_storm'
-
-class ExclamationBolt2 < RedStorm::SimpleBolt
-  output_fields :word
-  on_receive(:ack => true, :anchor => true) {|tuple| tuple.getString(0) + "!!!"}
-end
-
-# this example topology uses the Storm TestWordSpout and our own JRuby ExclamationBolt
-
-class LocalExclamationTopology2
-  def start(base_class_path)
-    builder = TopologyBuilder.new
-    
-    builder.setSpout(1, TestWordSpout.new, 10)     
-    builder.setBolt(2, JRubyBolt.new(base_class_path, "ExclamationBolt2"), 3).shuffleGrouping(1)
-    builder.setBolt(3, JRubyBolt.new(base_class_path, "ExclamationBolt2"), 2).shuffleGrouping(2)
-            
-    conf = Config.new
-    conf.setDebug(true)
-    
-    cluster = LocalCluster.new
-    cluster.submitTopology("test", conf, builder.createTopology)
-    sleep(5)
-    cluster.killTopology("test")
-    cluster.shutdown
-  end
-end
diff --git a/examples/simple/local_redis_word_count_topology.rb b/examples/simple/redis_word_count_topology.rb
similarity index 54%
rename from examples/simple/local_redis_word_count_topology.rb
rename to examples/simple/redis_word_count_topology.rb
index ceb1e41..3203a80 100644
--- a/examples/simple/local_redis_word_count_topology.rb
+++ b/examples/simple/redis_word_count_topology.rb
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ require 'examples/simple/word_count_bolt'
 # RedisWordSpout reads the Redis queue "test" on localhost:6379 
 # and emits each word items pop'ed from the queue.
 
-class RedisWordSpout
+class RedisWordSpout < RedStorm::SimpleSpout
   output_fields :word
 
   on_send {@q.pop if @q.size > 0}
@@ -33,20 +33,22 @@ class RedisWordSpout
   end
 end
 
+class RedisWordCountTopology < RedStorm::SimpleTopology
+  spout RedisWordSpout
+      
+  bolt WordCountBolt, :parallelism => 3 do
+    source RedisWordSpout, :fields => ["word"]
+  end
 
-class LocalRedisWordCountTopology
-  def start(base_class_path)
-    builder = TopologyBuilder.new
-    builder.setSpout(1, JRubySpout.new(base_class_path, "RedisWordSpout"), 1)
-    builder.setBolt(2, JRubyBolt.new(base_class_path, "WordCountBolt"), 3).fieldsGrouping(1, Fields.new("word"))
-
-    conf = Config.new
-    conf.setDebug(true)
-    conf.setMaxTaskParallelism(3)
-
-    cluster = LocalCluster.new
-    cluster.submitTopology("redis-word-count", conf, builder.createTopology)
-    sleep(600)
-    cluster.shutdown
+  configure do |env|
+    case env
+    when :local
+      debug true
+      max_task_parallelism 3
+    when :cluster
+      debug true
+      num_workers 20
+      max_spout_pending(1000);
+    end
   end
 end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/examples/simple/split_sentence_bolt.rb b/examples/simple/split_sentence_bolt.rb
index f762264..d9d4abd 100644
--- a/examples/simple/split_sentence_bolt.rb
+++ b/examples/simple/split_sentence_bolt.rb
@@ -1,29 +1,27 @@
 class SplitSentenceBolt < RedStorm::SimpleBolt
   output_fields :word
 
+  # block declaration style using auto-emit (default)
+  #
+  on_receive {|tuple| tuple.getString(0).split(' ').map{|w| [w]}}
+
   # block declaration style no auto-emit
   #
   # on_receive :emit => false do |tuple| 
   #   tuple.getString(0).split(' ').each{|w| emit(w)}
   # end
 
-  # block declaration style with auto-emit
-  #
-  on_receive do |tuple| 
-    tuple.getString(0).split(' ').map{|w| [w]}
-  end
-
   # alternate declaration style using on_receive method
   #
   # on_receive :emit => false
   # def on_receive(tuple)
-  #   tuple.getString(0).split(' ').each {|w| emit(w)}
+  #   tuple.getString(0).split(' ').map{|w| [w]}
   # end
 
   # alternate declaration style using any specific method
   #
   # on_receive :my_method, :emit => false
   # def my_method(tuple)
-  #   tuple.getString(0).split(' ').each {|w| emit(w)}
+  #   tuple.getString(0).split(' ').map{|w| [w]}
   # end
 end
diff --git a/examples/simple/word_count_bolt.rb b/examples/simple/word_count_bolt.rb
index efc5ba3..44a1d53 100644
--- a/examples/simple/word_count_bolt.rb
+++ b/examples/simple/word_count_bolt.rb
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 class WordCountBolt < RedStorm::SimpleBolt
   output_fields :word, :count
-
   on_init {@counts = Hash.new{|h, k| h[k] = 0}}
 
+  # block declaration style using auto-emit (default)
+  #
   on_receive do |tuple|
     word = tuple.getString(0)
     @counts[word] += 1
@@ -10,18 +11,3 @@ class WordCountBolt < RedStorm::SimpleBolt
     [word, @counts[word]]
   end
 end
-
-# below is the same bolt but passing a method name to on_tuple
-
-# class WordCountBolt < RedStorm::SimpleBolt
-#   output_fields :word, :count
-#   on_init {@counts = Hash.new{|h, k| h[k] = 0}}
-#   on_receive :count_word
-#
-#   def count_word(tuple)
-#     word = tuple.getString(0)
-#     @counts[word] += 1
-#
-#     [word, @counts[word]]
-#   end
-# end
diff --git a/examples/simple/local_word_count_topology.rb b/examples/simple/word_count_topology.rb
similarity index 70%
rename from examples/simple/local_word_count_topology.rb
rename to examples/simple/word_count_topology.rb
index e0aedc7..402c86e 100644
--- a/examples/simple/local_word_count_topology.rb
+++ b/examples/simple/word_count_topology.rb
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ require 'examples/simple/random_sentence_spout'
 require 'examples/simple/split_sentence_bolt'
 require 'examples/simple/word_count_bolt'
 
-class LocalWordCountTopology < RedStorm::SimpleTopology
+class WordCountTopology < RedStorm::SimpleTopology
   spout RandomSentenceSpout, :parallelism => 5
   
   bolt SplitSentenceBolt, :parallelism => 8 do
@@ -15,8 +15,15 @@ class LocalWordCountTopology < RedStorm::SimpleTopology
   end
 
   configure :word_count do |env|
-    debug true
-    max_task_parallelism 3
+    case env
+    when :local
+      debug true
+      max_task_parallelism 3
+    when :cluster
+      debug true
+      num_workers 20
+      max_spout_pending(1000);
+    end
   end
 
   on_submit do |env|