diff --git a/zipline/finance/performance.py b/zipline/finance/performance.py
index b07dc081..346aa205 100644
--- a/zipline/finance/performance.py
+++ b/zipline/finance/performance.py
@@ -406,9 +406,7 @@ class PerformancePeriod():
         Creates a dictionary representing the state of this performance 
         period. See header comments for a detailed description.
         """
-        positions = {}
-        for sid, pos in self.positions.iteritems():
-            positions[sid] = pos.to_dict()
+        positions = self.get_positions()
 
         return {
             'ending_value'   : self.ending_value,
@@ -427,9 +425,7 @@ class PerformancePeriod():
         for a detailed description.    
         
         """
-        positions = {}
-        for sid, pos in self.positions.iteritems():
-            positions[sid] = zp.namedict(pos.to_dict())
+        positions = self.get_positions(namedicted=True)
         
         positions = zp.namedict(positions)
         
@@ -442,5 +438,17 @@ class PerformancePeriod():
             'positions'      : positions
         })
         
+    def get_positions(self, namedicted=False):
+        positions = {}
+        for sid, pos in self.positions.iteritems():
+            cur = pos.to_dict()
+            if namedicted:
+                positions[sid] = zp.namedict(cur)
+            else:
+                positions[sid] = cur
+        
+        return positions
+        
+        
             
 
diff --git a/zipline/protocol_utils.py b/zipline/protocol_utils.py
index 62ab340c..ba805b3b 100644
--- a/zipline/protocol_utils.py
+++ b/zipline/protocol_utils.py
@@ -86,9 +86,6 @@ class namedict(object):
 
     def has_attr(self, name):
         return self.__dict__.has_key(name)
-    
-    def __getitem__(self, key):
-        return self.__dict__[key]
         
     def as_series(self):
         s = pandas.Series(self.__dict__)