diff --git a/src/server/distrend.c b/src/server/distrend.c
--- a/src/server/distrend.c
+++ b/src/server/distrend.c
@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ int restoreJobState(struct distrenjob *j
 
    Passed strings must be free()d by the caller.
 */
-int prepare_distrenjob(struct general_info *geninfo, int type, char *name, char *submitter, char *email, int priority, int start_frame, int end_frame, int width, int height)
+int prepare_distrenjob(struct general_info *geninfo, int type, char *name, char *submitter, int priority, int start_frame, int end_frame, int width, int height)
 {
   int counter;
   int counter2;
@@ -272,7 +272,6 @@ int prepare_distrenjob(struct general_in
   distrenjob->type = 1;
   distrenjob->name = strdup(name);
   distrenjob->submitter = strdup(submitter);
-  distrenjob->email = strdup(email);
   distrenjob->priority = priority;
   distrenjob->width = width;
   distrenjob->height = height;
@@ -784,71 +783,23 @@ int import_general_info(struct general_i
   return 0;
 }
 
-
-// extracts data from the xml created by above function and creates a job from it
-// it returns a pointer to the created job
-struct distrenjob *createJobFromXML(struct general_info *geninfo, unsigned int jobnum)
+/**
+   determines path to the distenjob XML file and
+   calls distrenjob_unserialize()
+ */
+int restore_distrenjob(struct general_info *geninfo, struct distrenjob **distrenjob, jobnum_t jobnum)
 {
-  xmlDocPtr doc;
-  xmlNodePtr cur;
+  int tmp;
   char *file_name;
-  struct distrenjob *distrenjob;
-  int start_frame;
-  int counter;
-  int counter2;
-
-  job_getserialfilename(&file_name, geninfo, jobnum, 0);
-
-  doc = xmlParseFile(file_name);
-  if(!doc)
-    return NULL;
-
-  distrenjob_new(&distrenjob);
-
-  cur = xmlDocGetRootElement(doc);
-
-  distrenjob->name = (char*)xmlGetProp(cur, (xmlChar*)"name");
-  distrenjob->submitter = (char*)xmlGetProp(cur, (xmlChar*)"submitter");
-  distrenjob->priority = atoi((char*)xmlGetProp(cur, (xmlChar*)"priority"));
-
-  cur = cur->xmlChildrenNode;
-  distrenjob->width = atoi((char*)xmlGetProp(cur, (xmlChar*)"width"));
-  distrenjob->height = atoi((char*)xmlGetProp(cur, (xmlChar*)"number"));
 
-  cur = cur->next;
-  start_frame = atoi((char*)xmlGetProp(cur, (xmlChar*)"start_frame"));
-  distrenjob->total_frames = atoi((char*)xmlGetProp(cur, (xmlChar*)"end_frame")) - start_frame + 1;
-  distrenjob->output_format = (char*)xmlGetProp(cur, (xmlChar*)"output_format");
-
-  cur = cur->next;
-  distrenjob->watchdog_forgiveness = atoi((char*)xmlNodeListGetString(doc, cur->xmlChildrenNode, 1));
-
-  xmlFreeDoc(doc);
-
-  /** load up stats.xml file to retrieve data */
-  _distren_asprintf(&file_name, "stor/job%d/stats.xml", jobnum);
-
-  doc = xmlParseFile(file_name);
-  free(file_name);
-  cur = xmlDocGetRootElement(doc);
+  tmp = job_getserialfilename(&file_name, geninfo, jobnum, 0);
+  if(tmp)
+    return tmp;
 
-  distrenjob->total_render_time = (time_t)atol((char*)xmlGetProp(cur, (xmlChar*)"total_render_time"));
-
-  xmlFreeDoc(doc);
-
-  distrenjob->frameset = malloc(sizeof(struct frameset) * distrenjob->total_frames);
-
-  // change the status of all frames to "unassigned"
-  counter2 = start_frame;
-  for(counter = 0; counter <= distrenjob->total_frames; counter++){
-    distrenjob->frameset[counter].num = counter2;
-    distrenjob->frameset[counter].status = FRAMESETSTATUS_UNASSIGNED;
-
-    counter2++;
-  }
-
-  restoreJobState(distrenjob);
-  return distrenjob;
+  tmp = distrenjob_unserialize(distrenjob, file_name);
+  free(file_name);
+  
+  return tmp;
 }
 
 int updateJobStatsXML(struct distrenjob *job)
@@ -1017,7 +968,7 @@ int reCreateQueueFromXML(struct general_
   struct distrenjob *holder; // holds the job that "was" after head, so that the new struct can be inserted after head
   struct distrenjob *job; // job to be added
   xmlChar *tmp;
-  int job_num;
+  jobnum_t job_num;
   if(current == NULL) // base case, if element doesn't exist then don't do anything
     return 0;
 
@@ -1040,8 +991,7 @@ int reCreateQueueFromXML(struct general_
   job_num = atoi((char*)tmp);
   xmlFree(tmp);
 
-  job = createJobFromXML(geninfo, job_num);
-  if(job == NULL)
+  if(restore_distrenjob(geninfo, &job, job_num))
     return 1;
 
   /**
@@ -1096,9 +1046,8 @@ int printJob(struct distrenjob *job)
 int printJobInfo(struct distrenjob *job)
 {
   fprintf(stderr, "type: %d\n", job->type);
-  fprintf(stderr, "name: %s\n", job->email);
+  fprintf(stderr, "name: %s\n", job->name);
   fprintf(stderr, "submitter: %s\n", job->submitter);
-  fprintf(stderr, "e-mail: %s\n", job->email);
   fprintf(stderr, "priority: %d\n", job->priority);
   fprintf(stderr, "completed: %d\n", job->completed_frames);
   fprintf(stderr, "assigned: %d\n", job->assigned_frames);
@@ -1198,8 +1147,8 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
     }
 
   /** pre-loaded jobs for testing */
-  prepare_distrenjob(&general_info, 1, "awesome", "LordOfWar", "onlylordofwar@gmail.com", 8, 1, 100, 640, 480);
-  prepare_distrenjob(&general_info, 1, "hamburger", "ohnobinki", "ohnobinki@ohnopublishing.net", 3, 1, 50, 1280, 720);
+  prepare_distrenjob(&general_info, 1, "awesome", "LordOfWar", 8, 1, 100, 640, 480);
+  prepare_distrenjob(&general_info, 1, "hamburger", "ohnobinki", 3, 1, 50, 1280, 720);
 
   while(test == 1)
   {
@@ -1251,7 +1200,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
       fprintf(stderr, "\nEnd frame: ");                scanf("%d", &end_frame);
       fprintf(stderr, "\nWidth: ");                    scanf("%d", &width);
       fprintf(stderr, "\nHeight: ");                   scanf("%d", &height);
-      prepare_distrenjob(&general_info, type, name, submitter, email, priority, start_frame, end_frame, width, height);
+      prepare_distrenjob(&general_info, type, name, submitter, priority, start_frame, end_frame, width, height);
       break;
     case 5:
       fprintf(stderr, "\nJob number: ");