diff --git a/lib/mysql-native/commands/execute.js b/lib/mysql-native/commands/execute.js
index 30c4760..9b76dbc 100644
--- a/lib/mysql-native/commands/execute.js
+++ b/lib/mysql-native/commands/execute.js
@@ -43,6 +43,11 @@ function execPrepared(sql, parameters)
       start: function()
       {
         this.stmt = sql
+        if (parameters)
+	{
+	  parameters = parameters.map(function(p){ return p instanceof Buffer ?
+	    p.toString('binary') : p });
+	}
         this.params = parameters
 
         // don't execute if prepare failed
@@ -96,7 +101,15 @@ function execPrepared(sql, parameters)
               if(typeof parameters[i] == "boolean" || (parameters[i] instanceof Array && parameters[i].every(function(x){return typeof x == 'boolean';}))){
                 packet.lcbits(parameters[i]);
               }
-              packet.lcstring(parameters[i].toString())
+	      if (parameters[i] instanceof Date)
+	      {
+		packet.lcstring(parameters[i].toISOString()
+		  .replace(/^(.*)T(.*)\..*Z/, '$1 $2'))
+	      }
+	      else
+	      {
+		packet.lcstring(parameters[i].toString())
+	      }
             }
           }
         }
@@ -172,7 +185,7 @@ function execPrepared(sql, parameters)
             var field = this.ps.fields[f];
             if (!null_bit_map[f])
             {
-                var value = r.unpackBinary(field.type, field.flags & field_flags.UNSIGNED);
+                var value = r.unpackBinary(field.type, field.flags & field_flags.UNSIGNED, field.charsetnum === 63);
                 this.store_column(row, field, value, use_hash);
             } else {
                 this.store_column(row, field, null, use_hash);
diff --git a/lib/mysql-native/commands/query.js b/lib/mysql-native/commands/query.js
index 356fe23..675d392 100644
--- a/lib/mysql-native/commands/query.js
+++ b/lib/mysql-native/commands/query.js
@@ -8,13 +8,15 @@ var result = require('../result')
 
 function parseTime(s)
 {
-    // no parsing here with non-binary prtocol, return date as is
-    return s;
+    return new Date(s+' UTC');
 }
 
-function parseString(s)
+function parseString(s, type, csn)
 {
-    return s;
+    if (csn===63)
+	return new Buffer(s, 'binary');
+    else
+	return s;
 }
 
 function parseNull(s)
@@ -90,9 +92,9 @@ function serialiseString(a)
 }
 */
 
-var string2type = function(str, t)
+var string2type = function(str, t, charset)
 {
-    return type_parsers[t](str, t);
+    return type_parsers[t](str, t, charset);
 }
 
 module.exports = function(sql)
@@ -156,7 +158,7 @@ module.exports = function(sql)
             var strValue = r.lcstring();
             if( charset )
                 strValue = charset.convertFromBytes( strValue );
-            var value = string2type(strValue, field.type); // todo: move to serialiser unpackString
+            var value = string2type(strValue, field.type, field.charsetnum); // todo: move to serialiser unpackString
             this.store_column(row, field, value, use_hash)
             field_index++;
         }
diff --git a/lib/mysql-native/pool.js b/lib/mysql-native/pool.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..be4aa31
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/mysql-native/pool.js
@@ -0,0 +1,159 @@
+/* source: https://github.com/felixge/node-mysql/blob/d91edc4a6e5838285e8debd4e1d82a1cfe163074/lib/Pool.js */
+var Mysql = require('mysql-native');
+
+module.exports = Pool;
+function Pool(options) {
+  this.config = {};
+  var config = this.config;
+  config.conn_options = options.conn_options;
+  config.createConnection = options.createConnection || undefined;
+  config.waitForConnections = (options.waitForConnections === undefined)
+    ? true : Boolean(options.waitForConnections);
+  config.connectionLimit = (options.connectionLimit === undefined)
+    ? 10 : Number(options.connectionLimit);
+
+  this._allConnections   = [];
+  this._freeConnections  = [];
+  this._connectionQueue  = [];
+  this._closed           = false;
+}
+
+Pool.prototype.getConnection = function(cb) {
+  if (this._closed) {
+    cb(new Error('Pool is closed.'));
+    return;
+  }
+
+  if (this._freeConnections.length > 0) {
+    var connection = this._freeConnections[0];
+    this._freeConnections.shift();
+    cb(null, connection);
+  } else if (this.config.connectionLimit == 0 || this._allConnections.length < this.config.connectionLimit) {
+    var self       = this;
+    var connection = this._createConnection(function() {
+      if (self._closed) {
+        cb(new Error('Pool is closed.'));
+      } else {
+        cb(null, connection);
+      }
+    });
+    this._allConnections.push(connection);
+  } else if (this.config.waitForConnections) {
+    this._connectionQueue.push(cb);
+  } else {
+    cb(new Error('No connections available.'));
+  }
+};
+
+Pool.prototype.releaseConnection = function(connection) {
+  if (connection._poolRemoved) {
+    // The connection has been removed from the pool and is no longer good.
+    if (this._connectionQueue.length) {
+      var cb = this._connectionQueue[0];
+      this._connectionQueue.shift();
+      process.nextTick(this.getConnection.bind(this, cb));
+    }
+  } else if (this._connectionQueue.length) {
+    var cb = this._connectionQueue[0];
+    this._connectionQueue.shift();
+    process.nextTick(cb.bind(null, null, connection));
+  } else {
+    this._freeConnections.push(connection);
+  }
+};
+
+Pool.prototype.end = function(cb) {
+  this._closed = true;
+  cb = cb || function(err) { if( err ) throw err; };
+  var self              = this;
+  var closedConnections = 0;
+  var calledBack        = false;
+  var endCB = function(err) {
+    if (calledBack) {
+      return;
+    } else if (err) {
+      calledBack = true;
+      delete endCB;
+      cb(err);
+    } else if (++closedConnections >= self._allConnections.length) {
+      calledBack = true;
+      delete endCB;
+      cb();
+    }
+  };
+
+  if (this._allConnections.length == 0) {
+    endCB();
+    return;
+  }
+
+  for (var i = 0; i < this._allConnections.length; ++i) {
+    var connection = this._allConnections[i];
+    connection.destroy = connection._realDestroy;
+    connection.end     = connection._realEnd;
+    connection.end(endCB);
+  }
+};
+
+Pool.prototype._createConnection = function(on_connect) {
+  var self = this;
+  var config = this.config.conn_options;
+  var connection = (this.config.createConnection)
+    ? this.config.createConnection(config)
+    : Mysql.createTCPClient(config.host, 0, on_connect);
+  connection.auth(config.database, config.user, config.password);
+
+  connection._realEnd = connection.end;
+  connection.end      = function(cb) {
+    self.releaseConnection(connection);
+    if (cb) cb();
+  };
+
+  connection._realDestroy = connection.close;
+  connection.destroy      = function() {
+    self._removeConnection(connection);
+    connection.close();
+  };
+
+  // When a fatal error occurs the connection's protocol ends, which will cause
+  // the connection to end as well, thus we only need to watch for the end event
+  // and we will be notified of disconnects.
+  connection.on('end', this._handleConnectionEnd.bind(this, connection));
+  connection.on('error', this._handleConnectionError.bind(this, connection));
+
+  return connection;
+};
+
+Pool.prototype._handleConnectionEnd = function(connection) {
+  if (this._closed || connection._poolRemoved) {
+    return;
+  }
+  this._removeConnection(connection);
+};
+
+Pool.prototype._handleConnectionError = function(connection) {
+  if (this._closed || connection._poolRemoved) {
+    return;
+  }
+  this._removeConnection(connection);
+};
+
+Pool.prototype._removeConnection = function(connection) {
+  connection._poolRemoved = true;
+  for (var i = 0; i < this._allConnections.length; ++i) {
+    if (this._allConnections[i] === connection) {
+      this._allConnections.splice(i, 1);
+      break;
+    }
+  }
+  for (var i = 0; i < this._freeConnections.length; ++i) {
+    if (this._freeConnections[i] === connection) {
+      this._freeConnections.splice(i, 1);
+      break;
+    }
+  }
+
+  connection.end     = connection._realEnd;
+  connection.destroy = connection._realDestroy;
+  this.releaseConnection(connection);
+};
diff --git a/lib/mysql-native/serializers/reader.js b/lib/mysql-native/serializers/reader.js
index 6be6d4a..103786d 100644
--- a/lib/mysql-native/serializers/reader.js
+++ b/lib/mysql-native/serializers/reader.js
@@ -19,8 +19,7 @@ reader.prototype.dump = function()
 // libmysql sets all fields to zero when binary packet has zero length
 function zeroTime()
 {
-   // todo: check how zero date is serialized to output in mysql
-   return new Date();
+   return new Date('0000-00-00 UTC');
 }
 
 reader.prototype.unpackBinaryTime = function()
@@ -63,13 +62,7 @@ reader.prototype.unpackBinaryDateTime = function()
     }
     var millisec = (length > 8) ? this.num(4) : 0;
     var dt = new Date();
-    dt.setYear(y);
-    dt.setMonth(m - 1);
-    dt.setDate(d);
-    dt.setHours(hour);
-    dt.setMinutes(min);
-    dt.setSeconds(sec);
-    dt.setMilliseconds(millisec);
+    dt.setTime(Date.UTC(y, m - 1, d, hour, min, sec, millisec));
     return dt;
 }
 
@@ -83,9 +76,7 @@ reader.prototype.unpackBinaryDate = function()
     var m = this.num(1);
     var d = this.num(1);
     var dt = new Date();
-    dt.setYear(y);
-    dt.setMonth(m - 1);
-    dt.setDate(d);
+    dt.setTime(Date.UTC(y, m - 1, d));
 
     return dt;
 }
@@ -154,7 +145,7 @@ function parseIEEE754Double(data, pos)
 }
 
 // deserialise mysql binary field
-reader.prototype.unpackBinary = function(type, unsigned)
+reader.prototype.unpackBinary = function(type, unsigned, binary)
 {
     // http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/numeric-types.html
 
@@ -167,20 +158,19 @@ reader.prototype.unpackBinary = function(type, unsigned)
     case constants.types.MYSQL_TYPE_STRING:
     case constants.types.MYSQL_TYPE_VAR_STRING:
     case constants.types.MYSQL_TYPE_BLOB:
-        result = this.lcstring();
+        result = binary ? this.lcbin() : this.lcstring();
         break;
-    // TODO: here are only unsigned version of int deserialisers!
     case constants.types.MYSQL_TYPE_TINY:
-        result = this.num(1);
+        result = this.num(1, unsigned);
         break;
     case constants.types.MYSQL_TYPE_SHORT:
-        result = this.num(2);
+        result = this.num(2, unsigned);
         break;
     case constants.types.MYSQL_TYPE_LONG:
-        result = this.num(4);
+        result = this.num(4, unsigned);
         break;
     case constants.types.MYSQL_TYPE_LONGLONG:
-        result = this.num(8);
+        result = this.num(8, unsigned);
         break;
     case constants.types.MYSQL_TYPE_NEWDECIMAL:
         result = parseFloat(this.lcstring());
@@ -221,17 +211,21 @@ reader.prototype.unpackBinary = function(type, unsigned)
 }
 
 // read n-bytes number
-// TODO: add unsigned flag and code to read signed/unsigned integers
-reader.prototype.num = function(numbytes)
+reader.prototype.num = function(numbytes, unsigned)
 {
     var res = 0;
     var factor = 1;
+    var fix_sign = 0;
+    if (unsigned!==undefined && !unsigned)
+	fix_sign = this.data.charCodeAt(this.pos+numbytes-1) & 0x80 ? -255 : 0;
     for (var i=0; i < numbytes; ++i)
     {
-        res += this.data.charCodeAt(this.pos) * factor;
+        res += (this.data.charCodeAt(this.pos)+fix_sign) * factor;
         factor = factor * 256;
         this.pos++;
     }
+    if (fix_sign)
+	res = res-1;
     return res;
 }
 
@@ -282,6 +276,13 @@ reader.prototype.zstring = function()
    return res;
 }
 
+reader.prototype.lcbin = function()
+{
+    var len = this.lcnum();
+    var res = this.bytes(len);
+    return new Buffer(res, 'binary');
+}
+
 reader.prototype.lcstring = function()
 {
     var len = this.lcnum();
@@ -361,6 +362,8 @@ reader.prototype.lcnum = function()
    this.pos++;
    if (b1 < 251)
        return b1;
+   else if (b1 == 251)
+       return null;
    else if (b1 == 252)
        return this.num(2);
    else if (b1 == 253)
@@ -382,14 +385,9 @@ reader.prototype.readPacketHeader = function()
 
 reader.prototype.bytes = function(n)
 {
-   var res = "";
-   var end = this.pos+n;
-   while(this.pos < end)
-   {
-       res += this.data.charAt(this.pos);
-       this.pos++;
-   }
-   return res;
+    var ret = this.data.substring(this.pos, this.pos+n);
+    this.pos+=n;
+    return ret;
 }
 
 module.exports = reader;