diff --git a/logs-to-tsdb/kinesis-lambda.py b/logs-to-tsdb/kinesis-lambda.py
index f33c1c7..c038f71 100644
--- a/logs-to-tsdb/kinesis-lambda.py
+++ b/logs-to-tsdb/kinesis-lambda.py
@@ -9,10 +9,10 @@
 from warnings import warn
 
 # Database connection parameters
-DB_HOST = os.environ['DB_HOST']
+DB_HOST = os.environ.get('DB_HOST')
 DB_PORT = '5432'
 DB_USER = 'tsuser'
-DB_PASSWORD = os.environ['DB_PASSWORD']
+DB_PASSWORD = os.environ.get('DB_PASSWORD')
 DB_NAME = 'tsdb'
 
 log_pattern = re.compile(r'received: (.*})')
@@ -24,25 +24,24 @@ def handler(event, context):
     pprint(event)
     warn(pformat(event))
     # Connect to the TimescaleDB
-    print("Connecting to db host " + DB_HOST)
-    conn = psycopg2.connect(
+    if DB_HOST:
+      # normally we should connect, in tests we do not 
+      print("Connecting to db host " + DB_HOST)
+      conn = psycopg2.connect(
         host=DB_HOST,
         port=DB_PORT,
         user=DB_USER,
         password=DB_PASSWORD,
         dbname=DB_NAME
-    )
-    cursor = conn.cursor()
+      )
+      cursor = conn.cursor()
 
     batched = []
 
-    print("NOT decoding data")
     for record in event['Records']:
-
-        payload = record['kinesis']['data']
-        # it doesn't appear to be encoded
-        #  payload = b64decode(record['kinesis']['data']).decode('utf-8')
-        data = json.loads(payload)
+        payload = b64decode(record['kinesis']['data'])
+        decoded = gzip.decompress(payload).decode('utf-8')
+        data = json.loads(decoded)
 
         for ev in data['logEvents']:
             # Transform log_event as required and add to batched_logs
@@ -92,20 +91,18 @@ def handler(event, context):
     }
 
     event = {
-        "Records": [
-            {
-                "kinesis": {
-                    "data": json.dumps({
-                        "logEvents": [
-                            {
-                                "timestamp": 1625239073000,
-                                "message": "your log message"
-                            }
-                        ]
-                    })
-                }
-            }
-        ]
+     "Records": [{"awsRegion": "us-east-2",
+    "eventID": "shardId-000000000000:49652274695115981779048041884426019726251995147880366082",
+    "eventName": "aws:kinesis:record",
+    "eventSource": "aws:kinesis",
+    "eventSourceARN": "arn:aws:kinesis:us-east-2:967314784947:stream/ceramic-cas-log-stream-tnet",
+    "eventVersion": "1.0",
+    "invokeIdentityArn": "arn:aws:iam::967314784947:role/lambda_role",
+    "kinesis": {"approximateArrivalTimestamp": 1716361597.516,
+    "data": "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",
+    "kinesisSchemaVersion": "1.0",
+    "partitionKey": "e4883c0bfd788e81bb5d969a4fcd7d49",
+    "sequenceNumber": "49652274695115981779048041884426019726251995147880366082"}}]
     } 
     pprint(event)
     context = {}