diff --git a/cmd/influxd/run/config_test.go b/cmd/influxd/run/config_test.go
index 93cf69b95e..dea8f30330 100644
--- a/cmd/influxd/run/config_test.go
+++ b/cmd/influxd/run/config_test.go
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ enabled = true
 	} else if c.ContinuousQuery.Enabled != true {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected continuous query enabled: %v", c.ContinuousQuery.Enabled)
 	} else if exp, got := "foo:123,bar:456", c.Join; exp != got {
-		t.Fatalf("unexpected join value: exp %v, got %v", exp, got)
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected join value: got %v, exp %v", got, exp)
 	}
 }
 
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ enabled = false
 	}
 
 	if e := c.Validate(); e == nil {
-		t.Fatalf("expected error, got nil")
+		t.Fatalf("got nil, expected error")
 	}
 }
 
@@ -183,6 +183,6 @@ enabled = false
 	}
 
 	if err := c.Validate(); err == nil {
-		t.Fatalf("expected error, got nil")
+		t.Fatalf("got nil, expected error")
 	}
 }
diff --git a/services/meta/client.go b/services/meta/client.go
index ac36929558..f500898020 100644
--- a/services/meta/client.go
+++ b/services/meta/client.go
@@ -838,8 +838,7 @@ func (c *Client) JoinMetaServer(httpAddr, tcpAddr string) (*NodeInfo, error) {
 		// Successfully joined
 		if resp.StatusCode == http.StatusOK {
 			defer resp.Body.Close()
-			dec := json.NewDecoder(resp.Body)
-			if err := dec.Decode(&node); err != nil {
+			if err := json.NewDecoder(resp.Body).Decode(&node); err != nil {
 				return nil, err
 			}
 			break
diff --git a/services/meta/handler.go b/services/meta/handler.go
index a58a5f5f44..9698ef9b4f 100644
--- a/services/meta/handler.go
+++ b/services/meta/handler.go
@@ -166,8 +166,7 @@ func (h *handler) serveExec(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 
 		// Return the node with newly assigned ID as json
 		w.Header().Add("Content-Type", "application/json")
-		enc := json.NewEncoder(w)
-		if err := enc.Encode(node); err != nil {
+		if err := json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(node); err != nil {
 			h.httpError(err, w, http.StatusInternalServerError)
 		}