diff --git a/events.py b/events.py
index 603c031..1179b53 100755
--- a/events.py
+++ b/events.py
@@ -49,19 +49,22 @@ eventStrings = {
 
 #<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><VertXMessage xmlns:hid="http://www.hidcorp.com/VertX"><hid:EventMessages action="RL" historyRecordMarker="463" historyTimestamp="1525824431" currentRecordMarker="463" currentTimestamp="1525824431" /></VertXMessage>
 
-XML = ET.Element("VertXMessage")
-ET.SubElement(XML, "hid:EventMessages", attrib={"action": "LR"})
-xml = doXMLRequest(TARGET_IP, ET.tostring(XML))
-print(xml[0].attrib)
+# get parameters for messages to get?
+# honestly not really sure why this is required, their API is confusing
+parXMLIn = ET.Element("VertXMessage")
+ET.SubElement(parXMLIn, "hid:EventMessages", attrib={"action": "LR"})
+parXMLOut = doXMLRequest(TARGET_IP, ET.tostring(parXMLIn))
 
-XML = ET.Element("VertXMessage")
-ET.SubElement(XML, "hid:EventMessages",
+# get the actual messages
+eventsXMLIn = ET.Element("VertXMessage")
+ET.SubElement(eventsXMLIn, "hid:EventMessages",
               attrib={"action": "LR",
                       "recordCount": "1000",
-                      "historyRecordMarker": xml[0].attrib["historyRecordMarker"],
-                      "historyTimestamp": xml[0].attrib["historyTimestamp"]})
-xml = doXMLRequest(TARGET_IP, ET.tostring(XML))
-for event in xml[0]:
+                      "historyRecordMarker": parXMLOut[0].attrib["historyRecordMarker"],
+                      "historyTimestamp": parXMLOut[0].attrib["historyTimestamp"]})
+eventsXMLOut = doXMLRequest(TARGET_IP, ET.tostring(eventsXMLIn))
+
+for event in eventsXMLOut[0]:
     ET.dump(event)
     att = event.attrib
     eventType = int(att["eventType"])