diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 9413ba3..5289e9a 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 _gist_cache
 _code_cache
 _assets
+_deploy
 public
 source/_stash
 vendor
diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
index 8ad7931..a7d570d 100644
--- a/Rakefile
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 require "rubygems"
 require "bundler/setup"
 
-site        = "public"    # compiled site directory
-source      = "source"    # source file directory
-stash       = "_stash"    # directory to stash posts for speedy generation
-posts       = "_posts"    # directory for blog files
+public_dir  = "public"    # compiled site directory
+source_dir  = "source"    # source file directory
+deploy_dir  = "_deploy"    # deploy directory (for Github pages deployment)
+stash_dir   = "_stash"    # directory to stash posts for speedy generation
+posts_dir   = "_posts"    # directory for blog files
 post_format = "markdown"  # file format for new posts when using the post rake task
 
 ## -- Rsync Deploy config -- ##
@@ -12,23 +13,16 @@ post_format = "markdown"  # file format for new posts when using the post rake t
 ssh_user      = "mathisweb@imathis.com"
 document_root = "~/dev.octopress.org/"
 
-## -- Github Pages deploy config -- ##
-# Read http://pages.github.com for guidance
-# You can deploy to github pages with `rake push_github` or change the default push task to :push_github
-source_branch = "source" # this compiles to your deploy branch
-deploy_branch = "master" # For user pages, use "master" for project pages use "gh-pages"
-
-
 desc "Initial setup for Octopress: copies the default theme into the path of Jekyll's generator. rake install defaults to rake install[classic] to install a different theme run rake install[some_theme_name]"
 task :install, :theme do |t, args|
   # copy theme into working Jekyll directories
   theme = args.theme || 'classic'
   puts "## Copying "+theme+" theme to Jekyll paths"
-  system "mkdir -p #{source}; cp -R themes/"+theme+"/source/ #{source}/"
+  system "mkdir -p #{source_dir}; cp -R themes/"+theme+"/source/ #{source_dir}/"
   system "mkdir -p sass; cp -R themes/"+theme+"/sass/ sass/"
   system "mkdir -p _plugins; cp -R themes/"+theme+"/_plugins/ _plugins/"
-  system "mkdir -p #{source}/#{posts}";
-  puts "## Layouts, images, and javascritps from the #{theme} theme have been installed into ./#{source}"
+  system "mkdir -p #{source_dir}/#{posts_dir}";
+  puts "## Layouts, images, and javascritps from the #{theme} theme have been installed into ./#{source_dir}"
   puts "## Sass stylesheet sources from the #{theme} theme have been installed into ./sass"
   puts "## Plugins from the #{theme} theme have been installed into ./_plugins"
 end
@@ -48,12 +42,12 @@ task :preview do
 end
 
 # usage rake post[my-new-post] or rake post['my new post'] or rake post (defaults to "new-post")
-desc "Begin a new post in #{source}/_posts"
+desc "Begin a new post in #{source_dir}/_posts"
 task :post, :filename do |t, args|
   require './_plugins/titlecase.rb'
   args.with_defaults(:filename => 'new-post')
-  open("#{source}/_posts/#{Time.now.strftime('%Y-%m-%d')}-#{args.filename.downcase.gsub(/[ _]/, '-')}.#{post_format}", 'w') do |post|
-    system "mkdir -p #{source}/#{posts}";
+  open("#{source_dir}/_posts/#{Time.now.strftime('%Y-%m-%d')}-#{args.filename.downcase.gsub(/[ _]/, '-')}.#{post_format}", 'w') do |post|
+    system "mkdir -p #{source_dir}/#{posts_dir}";
     post.puts "---"
     post.puts "title: #{args.filename.gsub(/[-_]/, ' ').titlecase}"
     post.puts "date: #{Time.now.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M')}"
@@ -65,16 +59,16 @@ end
 # usage rake isolate[my-post]
 desc "Move all other posts than the one currently being worked on to a temporary stash location (stash) so regenerating the site happens much quicker."
 task :isolate, :filename do |t, args|
-  stash_dir = "#{source}/#{stash}"
+  stash_dir = "#{source_dir}/#{stash_dir}"
   FileUtils.mkdir(stash_dir) unless File.exist?(stash_dir)
-  Dir.glob("#{source}/#{posts}/*.*") do |post|
+  Dir.glob("#{source_dir}/#{posts_dir}/*.*") do |post|
     FileUtils.mv post, stash_dir unless post.include?(args.filename)
   end
 end
 
 desc "Move all stashed posts back into the posts directory, ready for site generation."
 task :integrate do
-  FileUtils.mv Dir.glob("#{source}/#{stash}/*.*"), "#{source}/#{posts}/"
+  FileUtils.mv Dir.glob("#{source_dir}/#{stash_dir}/*.*"), "#{source_dir}/#{posts_dir}/"
 end
 
 desc "Clean out caches: _code_cache, _gist_cache, .sass-cache"
@@ -112,29 +106,25 @@ end
 desc "Deploy website via rsync"
 task :push_rsync do
   puts "## Deploying website via Rsync"
-  ok_failed system("rsync -avz --delete #{site}/ #{ssh_user}:#{document_root}")
+  ok_failed system("rsync -avz --delete #{public_dir}/ #{ssh_user}:#{document_root}")
 end
 
-desc "deploy website to github pages"
+desc "deploy public directory to github pages"
 multitask :push_github do
-  puts "## Deploying #{deploy_branch} branch to Github Pages "
-  require 'git'
-  repo = Git.open('.')
-  puts "\n## Checking out #{deploy_branch} branch \n"
-  repo.branch("#{deploy_branch}").checkout
-  (Dir["*"] - ["#{site}"]).each { |f| rm_rf(f) }
-  Dir["#{site}/*"].each {|f| mv(f, ".")}
-  rm_rf("#{site}")
-  puts "\n## Moving generated /#{site} files \n"
-  Dir["**/*"].each {|f| repo.add(f) }
-  repo.status.deleted.each {|f, s| repo.remove(f)}
-  puts "\n## Commiting: Site updated at #{Time.now.utc} \n"
-  message = ENV["MESSAGE"] || "Site updated at #{Time.now.utc}"
-  repo.commit(message)
-  puts "\n## Pushing generated /#{site} files to #{deploy_branch} branch\n"
-  repo.push
-  puts "\n## Github Pages deploy complete\n"
-  repo.branch("#{source_branch}").checkout
+  puts "## Deploying branch to Github Pages "
+  (Dir["#{deploy_dir}/*"]).each { |f| rm_rf(f) }
+  system "cp -R #{public_dir}/ #{deploy_dir}"
+  puts "\n## copying #{public_dir} to #{deploy_dir}"
+  cd "#{deploy_dir}" do
+    system "git add ."
+    system "git add -u"
+    puts "\n## Commiting: Site updated at #{Time.now.utc}"
+    message = "Site updated at #{Time.now.utc}"
+    system "git commit -m '#{message}'"
+    puts "\n## Pushing generated #{deploy_dir} website"
+    system "git push"
+    puts "\n## Github Pages deploy complete"
+  end
 end
 
 
@@ -144,3 +134,4 @@ task :list do
   puts "Tasks: #{(Rake::Task.tasks - [Rake::Task[:list]]).to_sentence}"
   puts "(type rake -T for more detail)\n\n"
 end
+