diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 80f3713..5de0504 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -2,3 +2,5 @@
 Gemfile.lock
 pkg
 .bundle
+*.gem
+
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f7d643e..3cad295 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+## 0.5.0
+* Make restclient gem options available (e.g. for timeouts)
+* weaken the version restrictinons in the gem file.
+
 ## 0.4.1
 * Make #db_alias available
 * Upgrade edn
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3f4d7f5..bee6b08 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -48,6 +48,16 @@ $ irb -rdatomic/client
 >> datomic.events(dbname) {|r| puts "Received: #{r.inspect}" }
 ```
 
+## Additional Options
+
+This gem uses the [rest-client gem](https://rubygems.org/gems/rest-client/versions/1.8.0) for its
+network connection. When creating a client, you can add a hash of options which will be
+passed to the underlying gem. These can be used to extend timeouts etc. e.g.
+```ruby
+>> datomic = Datomic::Client.new 'http://localhost:9000', 'socrates', read_timeout: 600, open_timeout: 10
+```
+
+
 ## Issues
 Please report them [on github](http://github.com/cldwalker/datomic-client/issues).
 
diff --git a/datomic-client.gemspec b/datomic-client.gemspec
index c2511a7..1b2c43f 100644
--- a/datomic-client.gemspec
+++ b/datomic-client.gemspec
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |s|
   s.add_development_dependency 'bundler'
   s.add_development_dependency 'rspec', '~> 2.11'
   s.add_development_dependency 'rake', '~> 0.9.2.2'
-  s.add_dependency 'rest-client', '~> 1.6.7'
+  # Breaking changes in rest-client 1.8.0 for us
+  s.add_dependency 'rest-client', '~> 1.6.7' 
   s.add_dependency 'edn', '~> 1.0.0'
 end
diff --git a/lib/datomic/client.rb b/lib/datomic/client.rb
index 3b8fd2d..f09b227 100644
--- a/lib/datomic/client.rb
+++ b/lib/datomic/client.rb
@@ -9,12 +9,16 @@ class Client
       Response.new body, response, request
     end
 
-    def initialize(url, storage = nil)
+    # rest_options is anything acceptable sa an argument to RestClient::Request.new()
+    def initialize(url, storage = nil, rest_options = {})
       @url = url
       @storage = storage
+      @rest_options = rest_options
     end
 
     def create_database(dbname)
+      #RestClient.post root_url('data', @storage) + "/", {"db-name" => dbname},
+      #  :content_type => 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded', &HANDLE_RESPONSE
       RestClient.post root_url('data', @storage) + "/", {"db-name" => dbname},
         :content_type => 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded', &HANDLE_RESPONSE
     end
@@ -29,10 +33,13 @@ def database_info(dbname, options = {})
     # Data can be a ruby data structure or a string representing clojure data
     def transact(dbname, data)
       data = transmute_data(data)
-      RestClient.post(db_url(dbname) + "/", {"tx-data" => data},
+      #RestClient.post(db_url(dbname) + "/", {"tx-data" => data},
+      #                :Accept => 'application/edn', &HANDLE_RESPONSE)
+      post(db_url(dbname) + "/", {"tx-data" => data},
                       :Accept => 'application/edn', &HANDLE_RESPONSE)
     end
 
+
     # This endpoint hits both datoms and index-range APIs.
     # params take any param in addition to following options:
     #
@@ -66,7 +73,7 @@ def query(query, args_or_dbname, params = {})
     # response from event
     def events(dbname, &block)
       # can't use RestClient.get b/c of :block_response
-      RestClient::Request.execute(:method => :get,
+      execute(:method => :get,
         :url => root_url('events', @storage, dbname),
         :headers => {:accept => "text/event-stream"},
         :block_response => block, &HANDLE_RESPONSE)
@@ -76,13 +83,26 @@ def db_alias(dbname)
       {:"db/alias" => "#@storage/#{dbname}"}
     end
 
-    private
+  private
+    # Execute a Rest operation with extra defaults
+    def execute( args, &block )
+      RestClient::Request.execute(@rest_options.merge(args), &block)
+    end
 
     def get(url, params = {})
-      RestClient.get(url, :params => params, :Accept => 'application/edn',
-                     &HANDLE_RESPONSE)
+      #RestClient.get(url, :params => params, :Accept => 'application/edn',
+      #               &HANDLE_RESPONSE)
+      execute(:method => :get, 
+                      :url => url, 
+                      headers: {:params => params, :Accept => 'application/edn'},
+                      &HANDLE_RESPONSE)
     end
 
+    def post(url, payload, headers={}, &block )
+      execute(:method => :post, :url => url, :payload => payload, :headers => headers, &block)
+    end
+
+
     def root_url(*parts)
       [@url].concat(parts).join('/')
     end
diff --git a/lib/datomic/client/version.rb b/lib/datomic/client/version.rb
index 64ce490..4afb8ad 100644
--- a/lib/datomic/client/version.rb
+++ b/lib/datomic/client/version.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 module Datomic
   class Client
-    VERSION = '0.4.1'
+    VERSION = '0.5.0'
   end
 end