diff --git a/.vscode/settings.json b/.vscode/settings.json
index 5b5df66..911ff07 100644
--- a/.vscode/settings.json
+++ b/.vscode/settings.json
@@ -3,7 +3,8 @@
     "search.exclude": {
         "**/node_modules": true,
         "**/bower_components": true,
-        "**/dist": true
+        "**/dist": true,
+        "**/coverge": true
     },
     "typescript.referencesCodeLens.enabled": true,
     "tslint.ignoreDefinitionFiles": false,
diff --git a/sample.cmd b/sample.cmd
deleted file mode 100644
index 0d7c9db..0000000
--- a/sample.cmd
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
-:: Note we depend on NODE_ENV being set to dictate which of the env variables below get loaded at runtime. 
-:: See README for more details
-
-:: Database connection strings below. You'll eventually have a lot of these!
-:: Get this from https://mlab.com/home after you've logged in and created a database
-set MONGODB_URI=mongodb://<mlab_user>:<mlab_password>@<mlab_connection_url>
-:: This is standard if you have mongodb running locally and you didn't change default ports
-set MONGODB_URI_LOCAL=mongodb://localhost:27017
-
-:: Put lots of randomness in this
-set SESSION_SECRET=ashdfjhasdlkjfhalksdjhflak
diff --git a/sample.sh b/sample.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 7203f2a..0000000
--- a/sample.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,12 +0,0 @@
-# Note we depend on NODE_ENV being set to dictate which of the env variables below get loaded at runtime. 
-# See README for more details
-
-# Database connection strings below. You'll eventually have a lot of these!
-# Get this from https://mlab.com/home after you've logged in and created a database
-export MONGODB_URI="mongodb://<mlab_user>:<mlab_password>@<mlab_connection_url>"
-# This is standard if you have mongodb running locally and you didn't change default ports
-export MONGODB_URI_DEV="mongodb://localhost:27017"
-
-# Put lots of randomness in these
-export SESSION_SECRET="ashdfjhasdlkjfhalksdjhflak"
-export SESSION_SECRET_DEV="ashdfjhasdlkjfhalksdjhflak"
diff --git a/src/app.ts b/src/app.ts
index 8f3e089..c10a024 100644
--- a/src/app.ts
+++ b/src/app.ts
@@ -14,9 +14,6 @@ import * as expressValidator from "express-validator";
 import * as bluebird from "bluebird";
 import { MONGODB_URI, SESSION_SECRET } from "./util/loadSecrets";
 
-console.log(MONGODB_URI);
-console.log(SESSION_SECRET);
-
 const MongoStore = mongo(session);
 
 // Controllers (route handlers)
diff --git a/src/util/loadSecrets.ts b/src/util/loadSecrets.ts
index 5b0a550..90b72d4 100644
--- a/src/util/loadSecrets.ts
+++ b/src/util/loadSecrets.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 // import log from './logger'; TODO
+import * as dotenv from "dotenv";
 
 export const ENVIRONMENT = process.env.NODE_ENV;
-const prod = ENVIRONMENT === "production";
+const prod = ENVIRONMENT === "production"; // Anything else is treated as 'dev'
+
+dotenv.config({ path: ".env.example" });
 
 export const SESSION_SECRET = process.env["SESSION_SECRET"];
 export const MONGODB_URI = prod ? process.env["MONGODB_URI"] : process.env["MONGODB_URI_LOCAL"];