diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 43a43a5a..5e1469eb 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -38,3 +38,14 @@ build: dep
 
 test: $(GINKGO)
 	ginkgo -r
+
+createprivate:
+	#!/bin/bash
+	echo "Deleting test blockchain"
+	rm -rf test_data_dir
+	echo "Creating test blockchain with a new account"
+	mkdir test_data_dir
+	geth --dev --datadir test_data_dir --password .private_blockchain_password account new
+
+startprivate: createprivate
+	geth --datadir test_data_dir --dev --nodiscover --mine --minerthreads 1 --maxpeers 0 --verbosity 3 --unlock 0 --password .private_blockchain_password --rpc
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9f4cdb4c..23a45d42 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -18,40 +18,32 @@
 2. Create a superuser for yourself and make sure `psql --list` works without prompting for a password.
 3. `createdb vulcanize_private`
 4. `cd $GOPATH/src/github.com/vulcanize/vulcanizedb`
-5. Import the schema: 
-    `psql vulcanize_private < db/schema.sql`
-   or run the migrations: 
-    `make migrate HOST_NAME=localhost NAME=vulcanize_public PORT=5432`
+5. Import the schema: `psql vulcanize_private < db/schema.sql`
+
+   or run the migrations: `make migrate HOST_NAME=localhost NAME=vulcanize_public PORT=5432`
     * See below for configuring additional environments
     
 Adding a new migration: `./scripts/create_migration <migration-name>`
 
 ## Start syncing with postgres
-1. Start geth
+1. Start geth node (**if fast syncing wait for geth to finsh initial sync**)
 2. In a separate terminal start vulcanize_db
     - `vulcanizedb sync --config <config.toml> --starting-block-number <block-numbe>`
     
    * see `environments` for example config 
 
-## Watch specific contract events
-1. Start geth
+## Watch specific events
+1. Start geth 
 2. In a separate terminal start vulcanize_db
     - `vulcanizedb sync --config <config.toml> --starting-block-number <block-numbe>`
 3. Create event filter 
     - `vulcanizedb addFilter --config <config.toml> --filter-filepath <filter.json>`
-    
-   * see `filters` for example filter 
+4. The filters are tracked in the `log_filters` table and the filtered events 
+will show up in the `watched_log_events` view
+   * see `./filters` for example filter 
      
 ## Development Setup
 
-### Cloning the Repository (Private repo only)
-
-1. `git config --global url."git@github.com:".insteadOf "https://github.com/"`
-    - By default, `go get` does not work for private GitHub repos. This will fix that.
-2. `go get github.com/vulcanize/vulcanizedb`
-3. `cd $GOPATH/src/github.com/vulcanize/vulcanizedb`
-4. `dep ensure`
-
 ### Creating/Using a test node
 
 Syncing the against the public network takes many hours for the initial sync and will download 20+ GB of data.
@@ -80,5 +72,10 @@ The default location for Ethereum is:
 
 In order to run the integration tests, you will need to run them against a real blockchain. At the moment the integration tests require [Geth v1.7.2](https://ethereum.github.io/go-ethereum/downloads/) as they depend on the `--dev` mode, which changed in v1.7.3 
 
-1. Run `./scripts/start_private_blockchain` as a separate process.
-2. `go test ./...` to run all tests.
+1. Run `make startprivate` in a separate terminal
+2. Setup a test database and import the schema: 
+
+   `createdb vulcanize_private`
+   
+    `psql vulcanize_private < db/schema.sql`
+3. `go test ./...` to run all tests.
diff --git a/cmd/sync.go b/cmd/sync.go
index b8e742f4..748f23ce 100644
--- a/cmd/sync.go
+++ b/cmd/sync.go
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/vulcanize/vulcanizedb/pkg/repositories"
 	"github.com/vulcanize/vulcanizedb/utils"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
+	"log"
 )
 
 // syncCmd represents the sync command
@@ -58,6 +59,9 @@ func sync() {
 	defer ticker.Stop()
 
 	blockchain := geth.NewBlockchain(ipc)
+	if blockchain.LastBlock().Int64() == 0 {
+		log.Fatal("geth initial: state sync not finished")
+	}
 	repository := utils.LoadPostgres(databaseConfig, blockchain.Node())
 	validator := history.NewBlockValidator(blockchain, repository, 15)