diff --git a/aprslib/IS.py b/aprslib/IS.py
index 0716f12..30bb133 100644
--- a/aprslib/IS.py
+++ b/aprslib/IS.py
@@ -114,10 +114,11 @@ class IS(object):
                 self._connect()
                 self._send_login()
                 break
-            except:
+            except (LoginError, ConnectionError):
                 if not blocking:
                     raise
 
+            self.logger.info("Retrying connection is %d seconds." % retry)
             time.sleep(retry)
 
     def close(self):
@@ -252,12 +253,14 @@ class IS(object):
             else:
                 raise ConnectionError("invalid banner from server")
 
-        except ConnectionError:
+        except ConnectionError as e:
+            self.logger.error(str(e))
             self.close()
             raise
         except (socket.error, socket.timeout) as e:
             self.close()
 
+            self.logger.error("Socket error: %s" % str(e))
             if str(e) == "timed out":
                 raise ConnectionError("no banner from server")
             else:
@@ -303,12 +306,14 @@ class IS(object):
             else:
                 self.logger.info("Login successful")
 
-        except LoginError:
+        except LoginError as e:
+            self.logger.error(str(e))
             self.close()
             raise
         except:
             self.close()
-            raise LoginError("failed to login")
+            self.logger.error("Failed to login")
+            raise LoginError("Failed to login")
 
     def _socket_readlines(self, blocking=False):
         """
@@ -317,6 +322,7 @@ class IS(object):
         try:
             self.sock.setblocking(0)
         except socket.error as e:
+            self.logger.error("socket error when setblocking(0): %s" % str(e))
             raise ConnectionDrop("connection dropped")
 
         while True:
@@ -330,8 +336,10 @@ class IS(object):
 
                 # sock.recv returns empty if the connection drops
                 if not short_buf:
+                    self.logger.error("socket.recv(): returned empty")
                     raise ConnectionDrop("connection dropped")
             except socket.error as e:
+                self.logger.error("socket error on recv(): %s" % str(e))
                 if "Resource temporarily unavailable" in str(e):
                     if not blocking:
                         if len(self.buf) == 0:
diff --git a/aprslib/parsing.py b/aprslib/parsing.py
index beacc1b..b977129 100644
--- a/aprslib/parsing.py
+++ b/aprslib/parsing.py
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ except ImportError:
             return {'confidence': 0.0, 'encoding': 'windows-1252'}
 
 from .exceptions import (UnknownFormat, ParseError)
-from . import base91, string_type_parse, is_py3
+from . import base91, string_type_parse
 
 __all__ = ['parse']
 
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ def parse(packet):
     """
 
     if not isinstance(packet, string_type_parse):
-        raise TypeError("Epected packet to be str/unicode/bytes, got %s", type(packet))
+        raise TypeError("Expected packet to be str/unicode/bytes, got %s", type(packet))
 
     # attempt to detect encoding
     if isinstance(packet, bytes):
diff --git a/tests/test_IS.py b/tests/test_IS.py
index 6bfa4b4..f62fdbc 100644
--- a/tests/test_IS.py
+++ b/tests/test_IS.py
@@ -252,9 +252,9 @@ class TC_IS(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_connect_raising_exceptions(self):
         self.m.StubOutWithMock(self.ais, "_connect")
         self.m.StubOutWithMock(self.ais, "_send_login")
-        self.ais._connect().AndRaise(Exception("first"))
+        self.ais._connect().AndRaise(aprslib.exceptions.ConnectionError("first"))
         self.ais._connect()
-        self.ais._send_login().AndRaise(Exception("second"))
+        self.ais._send_login().AndRaise(aprslib.exceptions.LoginError("second"))
         self.ais._connect()
         self.ais._send_login()
         self.m.ReplayAll()