diff --git a/src/js/views/commandViews.js b/src/js/views/commandViews.js
index 7abf9b15..494678e0 100644
--- a/src/js/views/commandViews.js
+++ b/src/js/views/commandViews.js
@@ -228,8 +228,8 @@ var CommandView = Backbone.View.extend({
     // for changes that are just comestic, we actually only want to toggle classes
     // with jquery rather than brutally delete a html. doing so allows us
     // to nicely fade things
-    var changes = changeEvent.changes;
-    var changeKeys = _.keys(changes);
+    var changes = changeEvent.changes || {};
+    var changeKeys = Object.keys(changes);
     if (_.difference(changeKeys, ['status']).length === 0) {
       this.updateStatus();
     } else {
diff --git a/src/js/views/index.js b/src/js/views/index.js
index a738697c..dad028ed 100644
--- a/src/js/views/index.js
+++ b/src/js/views/index.js
@@ -328,7 +328,7 @@ var ModalAlert = ContainedBase.extend({
   template: _.template($('#modal-alert-template').html()),
 
   initialize: function(options) {
-    options = options || {};
+    this.options = options || {};
     this.JSON = {
       title: options.title || 'Something to say',
       text: options.text || 'Here is a paragraph',