diff --git a/hbd b/hbd
index 50a12c2..4689ffa 100755
--- a/hbd
+++ b/hbd
@@ -824,14 +824,21 @@ except:
 
 if f:
 	while 1:
-		l = f.readline()
-		if len(l) == 0:
+		ls = f.readline()
+		if len(ls) == 0:
 			break
+		l = ls[:-1].strip()
+		if len(l) == 0 or l[0] == "#":
+			continue
 		if verbose:
-			print "  %s" % l[:-1]
-		r = l[:-1].split('=')
+			print "  %s" % l
+		r = l.split('=')
 		o = r[0].strip()
-		a = eval(r[1].strip())
+		try:
+			a = eval(r[1].strip())
+		except Exception as e:
+			print "error: %s" % str(r)
+			sys.exit(1)
 		if o == 'interval':
 			interval = a
 		elif o == 'grace':