diff --git a/preprocess/preprocess-node.inc b/preprocess/preprocess-node.inc
index 3a0088194511dfb9a62abcb6577caa1d4fdea252..74b9ecf0eca9974370843dd5f20ff5d268995b22 100644
--- a/preprocess/preprocess-node.inc
+++ b/preprocess/preprocess-node.inc
@@ -9,13 +9,12 @@
 /**
  * @todo - make this term manipulation a setting in node display specific theme settings.
  */
+$term_fields = ''; 
 foreach ($vars['content'] AS $item) {
   if (isset($item['#field_type'])) {
-    $term_fields = '';
     if ($item['#field_type'] == 'taxonomy_term_reference') {
-      //krumo($item);
       $field_name = $item['#field_name'];
-      // $term_fields will hold the HTML data from any term_reference field, and be rendered separately in node.tpl.php
+      // $term_fields will hold the HTML data from any term_reference field, and will be rendered separately in node.tpl.php
       $term_fields .= render($item);
       // hide this "term" element from rendering in $content
       hide($vars['content'][$field_name]);
diff --git a/templates/node.tpl.php b/templates/node.tpl.php
index 4b0154c5e1067a606405a9ca86d2bdb29c1336e1..8420f6d497b1ac5e08775b5777569b98062f3822 100755
--- a/templates/node.tpl.php
+++ b/templates/node.tpl.php
@@ -100,10 +100,10 @@
   <?php if($user_picture || $display_submitted || $terms): ?>
   <div class="clearfix node-info">
     <?php print $user_picture; ?>
-    <?php if ($display_submitted):?>
+    <?php if (isset($display_submitted)):?>
     <div class="submitted"><?php print $submitted; ?></div>
     <?php endif; ?>
-    <?php if (!empty($terms)): ?>
+    <?php if (isset($terms)): ?>
       <div class="terms"><?php print $terms; ?></div>
     <?php endif; ?>
   </div>