public function index()
 {
     // grab desired commits array from github. Let's try utilizing "knplabs/github-api": "~1.4" first in composer.json
     $client = new \Github\Client();
     $commits = $client->api('repo')->commits()->all('nodejs', 'node', array('sha' => 'master'));
     $numCommitsToParse = 25;
     $numCurrentCommitBeingParsed = 0;
     // save 25 most recent commits to db
     foreach ($commits as $commit) {
         if ($numCurrentCommitBeingParsed < $numCommitsToParse) {
             // grab new Commit instance
             $cm = new Commit();
             // check to see if commit hash entry already exists
             $cmchk = Commit::where('hash', '=', $commit['sha'])->first();
             // if it does not exist, save->db
             if ($cmchk == null) {
                 $cm->author = $commit['commit']['author']['name'];
                 $cm->hash = $commit['sha'];
                 $cm->msg = $commit['commit']['message'];
                 $cm->date = $commit['commit']['author']['date'];
                 // save to db
                 $cm->save();
                 $numCurrentCommitBeingParsed++;
             }
         }
     }
     /***
      *
      * Yoink 25 most recent commits FROM DB (as specified in coding challenge
      * readme)
      *
      * Normally this functionality would probably live in a method somewhere else --
      * ahhh the joys of having time to refactor :-)
      *
      */
     #$savedCommits = Commit::orderBy('date', 'desc')->take(25)->get();
     // moved 'orderBy' logic in above comment to Commit model scope
     $savedCommits = Commit::dateDescending()->take(25)->get();
     /***
      *
      * Now that we have the 25 most recent commits, we need to check to see if
      * the commit SHA (commits.hash) ends in a number, and if so, color that row
      * to light blue (#E6F1F6)
      *
      * !!!! Scratch that !!!! Let's move this functionality to the index.php angular view
      * where it should live.
      *
      */
     //        foreach ($savedCommits as $savedCommit) {
     //            // if commits.hash ends with num then color row light blue...
     //        }
     // json up the goodies and send 'em to angular
     //return Response::json(Commit::get());
     /***
      * Darn! Looks like Illuminate\Http\Response::json() is belly up.
      * Let's find something else to json encode with. Come on php, you can do it!
      */
     //        return JsonResponse::create($commits);
     //        return JsonResponse::create($tmoo);
     return JsonResponse::create($savedCommits);
 }