diff --git a/lib/google/api_client.rb b/lib/google/api_client.rb
index 090dda26a..94285acb8 100644
--- a/lib/google/api_client.rb
+++ b/lib/google/api_client.rb
@@ -47,8 +47,8 @@ module Google
     #     <li><code>:oauth_1</code></li>
     #     <li><code>:oauth_2</code></li>
     #   </ul>
-    # @option options [String] :host ("www.googleapis.com")
-    #   The API hostname used by the client.  This rarely needs to be changed.
+    # @option options [String] :baseURI ("https://www.googleapis.com/discovery/v1")
+    #   The base API URI used by the client.  This rarely needs to be changed.
     # @option options [String] :application_name
     #   The name of the application using the client.
     # @option options [String] :application_version
@@ -63,8 +63,9 @@ module Google
         accu[key.to_s] = value
         accu
       end
-      # Almost all API usage will have a host of 'www.googleapis.com'.
-      self.host = options["host"] || 'www.googleapis.com'
+      # Almost all API usage will have this base URI 
+      self.baseURI = options["baseURI"] || "https://www.googleapis.com/discovery/v1"
+
       # Most developers will want to leave this value alone and use the
       # application_name option.
       application_string = (
@@ -80,7 +81,7 @@ module Google
       ).strip
       # The writer method understands a few Symbols and will generate useful
       # default authentication mechanisms.
-      self.authorization = options["authorization"] || :oauth_2
+      self.authorization = options.key?("authorization") ? options["authorization"] : :oauth_2
       self.key = options["key"]
       self.user_ip = options["user_ip"]
       @discovery_uris = {}
@@ -165,7 +166,7 @@ module Google
     #
     # @return [String]
     #   The API hostname.  Should almost always be 'www.googleapis.com'.
-    attr_accessor :host
+    attr_accessor :baseURI
 
     ##
     # The user agent used by the client.
@@ -173,16 +174,17 @@ module Google
     # @return [String]
     #   The user agent string used in the User-Agent header.
     attr_accessor :user_agent
+    
+    def relative_uri(path, expand={})
+      Addressable::Template.new(baseURI+path).expand(expand)
+    end
 
     ##
     # Returns the URI for the directory document.
     #
     # @return [Addressable::URI] The URI of the directory document.
     def directory_uri
-      template = Addressable::Template.new(
-        "https://{host}/discovery/v1/apis"
-      )
-      return template.expand({"host" => self.host})
+      relative_uri('/apis')
     end
 
     ##
@@ -208,15 +210,7 @@ module Google
       api = api.to_s
       version = version || 'v1'
       return @discovery_uris["#{api}:#{version}"] ||= (begin
-        template = Addressable::Template.new(
-          "https://{host}/discovery/v1/apis/" +
-          "{api}/{version}/rest"
-        )
-        template.expand({
-          "host" => self.host,
-          "api" => api,
-          "version" => version
-        })
+        relative_uri("/apis/{api}/{version}/rest", 'api' => api, 'version' => version)
       end)
     end
 
@@ -596,7 +590,7 @@ module Google
         unless headers.kind_of?(Enumerable)
           # We need to use some Enumerable methods, relying on the presence of
           # the #each method.
-          class <<headers
+          class << headers
             include Enumerable
           end
         end
diff --git a/lib/google/api_client/discovery/api.rb b/lib/google/api_client/discovery/api.rb
index 9979ed79d..c4afb38af 100644
--- a/lib/google/api_client/discovery/api.rb
+++ b/lib/google/api_client/discovery/api.rb
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ module Google
       def initialize(document_base, discovery_document)
         @document_base = Addressable::URI.parse(document_base)
         @discovery_document = discovery_document
-        metaclass = (class <<self; self; end)
+        metaclass = (class << self; self; end)
         self.discovered_resources.each do |resource|
           method_name = Google::INFLECTOR.underscore(resource.name).to_sym
           if !self.respond_to?(method_name)
diff --git a/lib/google/api_client/discovery/method.rb b/lib/google/api_client/discovery/method.rb
index a1ec1b455..8f0198507 100644
--- a/lib/google/api_client/discovery/method.rb
+++ b/lib/google/api_client/discovery/method.rb
@@ -172,12 +172,14 @@ module Google
         query_parameters = parameters.reject do |k, v|
           template_variables.include?(k)
         end
-        if query_parameters.size > 0
-          uri.query_values = (uri.query_values || []) + query_parameters
+        # encode all non-template parameters
+        params = ""
+        unless query_parameters.empty?
+          params = "?" + Addressable::URI.form_encode(query_parameters)
         end
         # Normalization is necessary because of undesirable percent-escaping
         # during URI template expansion
-        return uri.normalize
+        return uri.normalize + params
       end
 
       ##
diff --git a/lib/google/api_client/discovery/schema.rb b/lib/google/api_client/discovery/schema.rb
index f3499ebdc..2b4d59833 100644
--- a/lib/google/api_client/discovery/schema.rb
+++ b/lib/google/api_client/discovery/schema.rb
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ module Google
           # and excess object creation, but this hopefully shouldn't be an
           # issue since it should only be called only once per schema per
           # process.
-          if data.kind_of?(Hash) && data['$ref']
+          if data.kind_of?(Hash) && data['$ref'].is_a?(String)
             reference = data['$ref']
             reference = '#' + reference if reference[0..0] != '#'
             data.merge({
diff --git a/lib/google/api_client/environment.rb b/lib/google/api_client/environment.rb
index e5abe9334..9faa28f7d 100644
--- a/lib/google/api_client/environment.rb
+++ b/lib/google/api_client/environment.rb
@@ -16,15 +16,19 @@
 module Google
   class APIClient
     module ENV
-      OS_VERSION = if RUBY_PLATFORM =~ /mswin|win32|mingw|bccwin|cygwin/
-        # TODO(bobaman)
-        # Confirm that all of these Windows environments actually have access
-        # to the `ver` command.
-        `ver`.sub(/\s*\[Version\s*/, '/').sub(']', '').strip
-      elsif RUBY_PLATFORM =~ /darwin/i
-        "Mac OS X/#{`sw_vers -productVersion`}"
-      else
-        `uname -sr`.sub(' ', '/')
+      OS_VERSION = begin
+        if RUBY_PLATFORM =~ /mswin|win32|mingw|bccwin|cygwin/
+          # TODO(bobaman)
+          # Confirm that all of these Windows environments actually have access
+          # to the `ver` command.
+          `ver`.sub(/\s*\[Version\s*/, '/').sub(']', '').strip
+        elsif RUBY_PLATFORM =~ /darwin/i
+          "Mac OS X/#{`sw_vers -productVersion`}"
+        else
+          `uname -sr`.sub(' ', '/')
+        end
+      rescue Exception
+        RUBY_PLATFORM
       end
     end
   end