diff --git a/Project.toml b/Project.toml
index 26871ce..e589dc5 100644
--- a/Project.toml
+++ b/Project.toml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ name = "FunctionalStateMachine"
 uuid = "3e9e306e-7e3c-11e9-12d2-8f8f67a2f951"
 keywords = ["state machine"]
 desc = "Functional state machine with stepping and visualization tools."
-version = "0.2.5"
+version = "0.2.6"
 
 [deps]
 Dates = "ade2ca70-3891-5945-98fb-dc099432e06a"
diff --git a/src/FunctionalStateMachine.jl b/src/FunctionalStateMachine.jl
index a559635..d3b76a5 100644
--- a/src/FunctionalStateMachine.jl
+++ b/src/FunctionalStateMachine.jl
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ export
   StateMachine,
   emptyState,
   exitStateMachine,
+  getIterCount,
   sandboxStateMachineStep,
   getStateLabel,
   histStateMachineTransitions
diff --git a/src/StateMachine.jl b/src/StateMachine.jl
index 55d21fd..7cb8c8b 100644
--- a/src/StateMachine.jl
+++ b/src/StateMachine.jl
@@ -40,16 +40,22 @@ usrdata = nothing
 while st(usrdata); end
 ```
 """
-function (st::StateMachine{T})(userdata::T=nothing;
-                               breakafter::Function=exitStateMachine,
-                               verbose::Bool=false,
-                               iterlimit::Int=-1,
-                               recordhistory::Bool=false  ) where {T}
+function (st::StateMachine{T})( userdata::T=nothing;
+                                breakafter::Function=exitStateMachine,
+                                verbose::Bool=false,
+                                iterlimit::Int=-1,
+                                recordhistory::Bool=false,
+                                housekeeping_cb::Function=(st)->()  ) where {T}
   #
   st.iter += 1
+  # verbose print to help debugging
   !verbose ? nothing : println("FSM $(st.name), iter=$(st.iter) -- $(st.next)")
+  # early exit plumbing
   retval = st.next != breakafter && (iterlimit == -1 || st.iter < iterlimit)
+  # record steps for later
   recordhistory ? push!(st.history, (Dates.now(), st.iter, deepcopy(st.next), deepcopy(userdata))) : nothing
+  # user has some special situation going on.
+  housekeeping_cb(st)
   st.next = st.next(userdata)
   return retval
 end
@@ -73,6 +79,13 @@ function exitStateMachine(dummy)
   return emptyState
 end
 
+"""
+    $SIGNATURES
+
+How many iterations has this `::StateMachine` stepped through.
+"""
+getIterCount(st::StateMachine) = st.iter
+
 """
   $SIGNATURES
 
diff --git a/src/StateMachineAnimation.jl b/src/StateMachineAnimation.jl
index 94e5d4a..1dba8bb 100644
--- a/src/StateMachineAnimation.jl
+++ b/src/StateMachineAnimation.jl
@@ -84,17 +84,17 @@ function histGraphStateMachineTransitions(stateVisits, allStates::Vector{Symbol}
 end
 
 
-function renderStateMachineFrame(vg,
-                                 frame::Int;
-                                 title::String="",
-                                 viewerapp::String="eog",
-                                 fext::String="png",
-                                 engine::String="dot",
-                                 show::Bool=true,
-                                 folder::String="fsm_animation",
-                                 folderpath = "/tmp/$folder/",
-                                 timest::String="",
-                                 rmfirst::Bool=false  )
+function renderStateMachineFrame( vg,
+                                  frame::Int;
+                                  title::String="",
+                                  viewerapp::String="eog",
+                                  fext::String="png",
+                                  engine::String="dot",
+                                  show::Bool=true,
+                                  folder::String="fsm_animation",
+                                  folderpath = "/tmp/$folder/",
+                                  timest::String="",
+                                  rmfirst::Bool=false  )
   #
   if rmfirst
     @warn "removing contents of $(folderpath)"
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ function renderStateMachineFrame(vg,
   fid = open("$folderpath/dotscript.sh","w")
   str = "head -n `wc -l $dotfile | awk '{print \$1-1}'` $dotfile > $folderpath/tmpdot.dot"
   println(fid, str)
-  println(fid, "echo \"graph [label=\\\"$title, #$step, $(timest)\\\", labelloc=t];\" >> $folderpath/tmpdot.dot")
+  println(fid, "echo \"graph [label=\\\"$title, $(timest)\\\", labelloc=t];\" >> $folderpath/tmpdot.dot")
   println(fid, "echo \"}\" >> $folderpath/tmpdot.dot")
   close(fid)
   run(`chmod u+x $folderpath/dotscript.sh`)
@@ -128,10 +128,10 @@ function renderStateMachineFrame(vg,
   return filepath
 end
 
-function setVisGraphOnState!(vg, vertid; 
-                             xlabel::String="", 
-                             appendxlabel::String="", 
-                             vertColor::AbstractString="red" )
+function setVisGraphOnState!( vg, vertid; 
+                              xlabel::String="", 
+                              appendxlabel::String="", 
+                              vertColor::AbstractString="red" )
   #
   vg.vertices[vertid].attributes["fillcolor"] = vertColor
   vg.vertices[vertid].attributes["style"] = "filled"
@@ -154,18 +154,18 @@ function clearVisGraphAttributes!(vg)
   nothing
 end
 
-function drawStateTransitionStep(hist,
-                                 step::Int,
-                                 vg,
-                                 lookup::Dict{Symbol,Int};
-                                 title::String="",
-                                 viewerapp::String="eog",
-                                 fext::String="png",
-                                 engine::String="dot",
-                                 show::Bool=true,
-                                 folder::String="",
-                                 frame::Int=step,
-                                 vertColor::AbstractString="red"  )
+function drawStateTransitionStep( hist,
+                                  step::Int,
+                                  vg,
+                                  lookup::Dict{Symbol,Int};
+                                  title::String="",
+                                  viewerapp::String="eog",
+                                  fext::String="png",
+                                  engine::String="dot",
+                                  show::Bool=true,
+                                  folder::String="",
+                                  frame::Int=step,
+                                  vertColor::AbstractString="red"  )
   #
 
   lbl = getStateLabel(hist[step][3])
@@ -179,26 +179,26 @@ function drawStateTransitionStep(hist,
   # delete!(vert.attributes, "style")
 
   # identify and set the node
-  xlabel = length(title) > 0 ? (xlabelbefore != nothing ? xlabelbefore*"," : "")*title : ""
+  xlabel = length(title) > 0 ? (xlabelbefore !== nothing ? xlabelbefore*"," : "")*title : ""
   setVisGraphOnState!(vg, vertid, xlabel=xlabel, vertColor=vertColor )
 
   # render state machine frame
-  filepath = renderStateMachineFrame(vg,
-                                     frame,
-                                     title=title,
-                                     viewerapp=viewerapp,
-                                     fext=fext,
-                                     engine=engine,
-                                     show=show,
-                                     folder=folder,
-                                     timest=string(split(string(hist[step][1]),'T')[end]),
-                                     rmfirst=false)
+  filepath = renderStateMachineFrame( vg,
+                                      frame,
+                                      title=title,
+                                      viewerapp=viewerapp,
+                                      fext=fext,
+                                      engine=engine,
+                                      show=show,
+                                      folder=folder,
+                                      timest=string(split(string(hist[step][1]),'T')[end]),
+                                      rmfirst=false)
   #
 
   # clean up the vg structure
-  fillcolorbefore == nothing ? delete!(vert.attributes, "fillcolor") : (vert.attributes["fillcolor"]=fillcolorbefore)
-  stylebefore == nothing ? delete!(vert.attributes, "style") : (vert.attributes["style"]=stylebefore)
-  xlabelbefore == nothing ? delete!(vert.attributes, "xlabel") : (vert.attributes["xlabel"]=xlabelbefore)
+  fillcolorbefore === nothing ? delete!(vert.attributes, "fillcolor") : (vert.attributes["fillcolor"]=fillcolorbefore)
+  stylebefore === nothing ? delete!(vert.attributes, "style") : (vert.attributes["style"]=stylebefore)
+  xlabelbefore === nothing ? delete!(vert.attributes, "xlabel") : (vert.attributes["xlabel"]=xlabelbefore)
 
   return filepath
 end
@@ -398,8 +398,8 @@ end
 # @async run(`totem /tmp/caesar/csmCompound/out.ogv`)
 # draw_more_cb(::Tuple, ::Int, ::String)
 function animateStateMachineHistoryIntervalCompound(hists::Dict{Symbol, Vector{Tuple{DateTime, Int, <: Function, T}}};
-                                                    interval::Int=2, # frames
-                                                    # frames::Int=100,
+                                                    easyNames::Dict{Symbol,N}=Dict{Symbol,Nothing}(),
+                                                    interval::Int=2,
                                                     folderpath="/tmp/animatestate",
                                                     title::String="",
                                                     show::Bool=false,
@@ -408,7 +408,7 @@ function animateStateMachineHistoryIntervalCompound(hists::Dict{Symbol, Vector{T
                                                     draw_more_cb::Function=(x...)->(), 
                                                     fsmColors::Dict{Symbol,String}=Dict{Symbol,String}(),
                                                     defaultColor::AbstractString="red",
-                                                    autocolor_cb::Function=(histstep,csym,aniT)->(haskey(fsmColors, csym) ? fsmColors[csym] : defaultColor)  ) where T
+                                                    autocolor_cb::Function=(histstep,csym,aniT)->(haskey(fsmColors, csym) ? fsmColors[csym] : defaultColor)  ) where {T, N}
   #
   # Dict{Symbol, Vector{Symbol}}
   stateVisits = Dict{Symbol, Vector{Symbol}}()
@@ -433,6 +433,7 @@ function animateStateMachineHistoryIntervalCompound(hists::Dict{Symbol, Vector{T
   prevList = Dict{Symbol, Vector{Int}}()
   latestList = Dict{Symbol, Int}(whId => fsmStep)
 
+  prevT = aniT
   frameCount = 0
   # loop across time
   @showprogress "exporting state machine images, $title " for stepCount in 1:totSteps
@@ -451,18 +452,20 @@ function animateStateMachineHistoryIntervalCompound(hists::Dict{Symbol, Vector{T
       lbl = getStateLabel(hists[csym][lstep][3])
       vertid = lookup[lbl]
       vertColor=autocolor_cb(hists[csym][lstep], csym, aniT)
-      # vertColor = haskey(fsmColors,csym) ? fsmColors[csym] : defaultColor
-      setVisGraphOnState!(vg, vertid, appendxlabel=string(csym)*",", vertColor=vertColor )
+      easyn = haskey(easyNames, csym) ? easyNames[csym] : csym
+      setVisGraphOnState!(vg, vertid, appendxlabel="($easyn.$lstep),", vertColor=vertColor )
     end
 
     # and draw as many frames for that setup
     for itr in 1:interval
       # increment frame counter
       frameCount += 1
+      deltaT = (aniT - prevT).value
+      prevT = aniT
       # finally render one frame
       renderStateMachineFrame(vg,
                               frameCount,
-                              title=title,
+                              title=title*" || dt=$deltaT ms ||",
                               show=false,
                               folderpath=folderpath,
                               timest=string(split(string(aniT),' ')[1]),