diff --git a/ietf/utils/.gitignore b/ietf/utils/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ba8bdb3af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ietf/utils/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+/*.pyc
+/*.swp
diff --git a/ietf/utils.py b/ietf/utils/__init__.py
similarity index 94%
rename from ietf/utils.py
rename to ietf/utils/__init__.py
index a292718c9..d497ef81a 100644
--- a/ietf/utils.py
+++ b/ietf/utils/__init__.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
-import operator
-import syslog
+from listop import orl, flattenl
+from log import log
+
 from django.utils.html import escape
 # look at snippets 59, 148, 99 for newforms helpers
 
@@ -51,17 +52,6 @@ class FKAsOneToOne(object):
             setattr(instance, self.field, value)
 
 
-def orl(list):
-    """ Return the "or" of every element in a list.
-    Used to generate "or" queries with a list of Q objects. """
-    return reduce(operator.__or__, list)
-
-def flattenl(list):
-    """ Flatten a list one level, e.g., turn
-	[ ['a'], ['b'], ['c', 'd'] ] into
-	[ 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd' ]
-    """
-    return reduce(operator.__concat__, list)
 
 
 def split_form(html, blocks):
diff --git a/ietf/utils/listop.py b/ietf/utils/listop.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7a446969e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ietf/utils/listop.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+import operator
+
+def orl(list):
+    """ Return the "or" of every element in a list.
+    Used to generate "or" queries with a list of Q objects. """
+    return reduce(operator.__or__, list)
+
+def flattenl(list):
+    """ Flatten a list one level, e.g., turn
+	[ ['a'], ['b'], ['c', 'd'] ] into
+	[ 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd' ]
+    """
+    return reduce(operator.__concat__, list)
diff --git a/ietf/utils/log.py b/ietf/utils/log.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e74b27908
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ietf/utils/log.py
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+import syslog
+import inspect
+import os.path
+import ietf
+from settings import BASE_DIR
+
+syslog.openlog("django", syslog.LOG_PID, syslog.LOG_USER)
+
+def getclass(frame):
+    cls = None
+    argnames, varargs, varkw, defaults  = inspect.getargvalues(frame)
+    if len(argnames) > 0:
+        selfname = argnames[0]
+        cls = defaults[selfname].__class__
+    return cls
+
+def getcaller():
+    parent, pfile, pline, pfunction, lines, index = inspect.stack()[2]
+    pmodule = inspect.getmoduleinfo(pfile)[0]
+    pclass = getclass(parent)
+    return (pmodule, pclass, pfunction, pfile, pline)
+
+def log(msg):
+    mod, cls, func, file, line = getcaller()
+    file = os.path.abspath(file)
+    file = file.replace(BASE_DIR, "")
+    if func == "<module>":
+        where = ""
+    else:
+        where = " in " + func + "()"
+    syslog.syslog("ietf%s(%d)%s: %s" % (file, line, where, msg))
+
+log("IETFdb v%s started" % ietf.__version__)
\ No newline at end of file