diff --git a/include/fc/variant.hpp b/include/fc/variant.hpp
index 7cb8890..d9e83b1 100644
--- a/include/fc/variant.hpp
+++ b/include/fc/variant.hpp
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@ namespace fc
    class time_point;
    class time_point_sec;
 
+   void to_variant( const int16_t& var,  variant& vo );
+   void from_variant( const variant& var,  int16_t& vo );
    void to_variant( const uint16_t& var,  variant& vo );
    void from_variant( const variant& var,  uint16_t& vo );
    void to_variant( const uint32_t& var,  variant& vo );
diff --git a/src/network/tcp_socket.cpp b/src/network/tcp_socket.cpp
index 0cca7bc..864199a 100644
--- a/src/network/tcp_socket.cpp
+++ b/src/network/tcp_socket.cpp
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ namespace fc {
       if (WSAIoctl(my->_sock.native(), SIO_KEEPALIVE_VALS, &keepalive_settings, sizeof(keepalive_settings),
                    NULL, 0, &dwBytesRet, NULL, NULL) == SOCKET_ERROR)
         wlog("Error setting TCP keepalive values");
-#else
+#elif !defined( __APPLE__ ) // TODO: add proper support for OS X Mavericks... SOL_TCP and TCP_KEEPIDLE are not defined
       // This should work for modern Linuxes and for OSX >= Mountain Lion
       int timeout_sec = interval.count() / fc::seconds(1).count();
       if (setsockopt(my->_sock.native(), SOL_TCP, TCP_KEEPIDLE, 
diff --git a/src/variant.cpp b/src/variant.cpp
index d4c69ad..1917d7d 100644
--- a/src/variant.cpp
+++ b/src/variant.cpp
@@ -15,6 +15,11 @@ namespace fc
    void to_variant( const uint16_t& var,  variant& vo )  { vo = uint64_t(var); }
    // TODO: warn on overflow?
    void from_variant( const variant& var,  uint16_t& vo ){ vo = static_cast<uint16_t>(var.as_uint64()); }
+
+   void to_variant( const int16_t& var,  variant& vo )  { vo = int64_t(var); }
+   // TODO: warn on overflow?
+   void from_variant( const variant& var,  int16_t& vo ){ vo = static_cast<int16_t>(var.as_int64()); }
+
 void to_variant( const std::vector<char>& var,  variant& vo )
 {
   if( var.size() )