diff --git a/src/shader.cpp b/src/shader.cpp
index a98319e..cfeb054 100644
--- a/src/shader.cpp
+++ b/src/shader.cpp
@@ -157,11 +157,12 @@ parseUniform(memory_arena* arena, shader_program* s, u32 uniform_idx)
 {
 	gl_uniform unif = {0};
 	GLchar unif_name[256] = {0};
+	GLsizei name_len = 0;
 
 	glGetActiveUniform(s->prog_id,
 		uniform_idx,
 		sizeof(unif_name),
-		&unif.name_len,
+		&name_len,
 		&unif.num_elements,
 		&unif.data_type,
 		unif_name);
@@ -171,10 +172,7 @@ parseUniform(memory_arena* arena, shader_program* s, u32 uniform_idx)
 	unif.idx = uniform_idx;
 	unif.data_size = getGLTypeSize(unif.data_type);
 	assert(unif.data_size > 0);
-	unif.name_len += 1; // NOTE: gl param dosen't account for null terminator
-	unif.name =
-		(char*) arenaAllocateBlock(arena, (unif.name_len) * sizeof(char));
-	std::strncpy(unif.name, unif_name, unif.name_len);
+	unif.name = arenaCopyCStr(arena, unif_name);
 	unif.location = glGetUniformLocation(s->prog_id, unif.name);
 
 	if (unif.data_size == 0)
@@ -301,13 +299,7 @@ initTransforms(memory_arena* arena,
 	xform_ubo->target = GL_UNIFORM_BUFFER;
 	xform_ubo->data_type = GL_FLOAT;
 	xform_ubo->data_size = sizeof(*xforms);
-
-	// TODO: make an arenaAddCStr(arena, char*& str_ref) for this nonsense
-	const char* block_name = "matrices";
-	u32 name_len = std::strlen(block_name) + 1;
-	xform_ubo->name = (char*) arenaAllocateBlock(arena, name_len);
-	std::strncpy(xform_ubo->name, block_name, name_len);
-	// END TODO:
+	xform_ubo->name = arenaCopyCStr(arena, "matrices");
 
 	glBindBuffer(xform_ubo->target, xform_ubo->id);
 	glBufferData(xform_ubo->target, sizeof(*xforms), xforms,
diff --git a/src/shader.h b/src/shader.h
index 9af7b91..16f19a3 100644
--- a/src/shader.h
+++ b/src/shader.h
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@ struct gl_uniform
 	GLenum data_type;
 	GLint data_size;
 	GLint num_elements;
-	GLsizei name_len;
 	char* name;
 };