diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 5fdb381..83728dd 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -5,8 +5,7 @@ pkg/
 *.swp
 *~
 .vscode/
-.vs/slnx.sqlite
-.vs/microservices-demo/v15/.suo
+.vs/
 .idea
 .skaffold-*.yaml
 .kubernetes-manifests-*/
diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 4850744..50a839e 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ services:
 - docker
 
 install:
-- curl -Lo skaffold https://storage.googleapis.com/skaffold/releases/v0.16.0/skaffold-linux-amd64
+- curl -Lo skaffold https://storage.googleapis.com/skaffold/releases/v0.18.0/skaffold-linux-amd64
 - chmod +x skaffold
 - sudo mv skaffold /usr/local/bin
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9cd4bbf..2094a6b 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -136,6 +136,12 @@ Find **Protocol Buffers Descriptions** at the [`./pb` directory](./pb).
 
         kubectl get service frontend-external
 
+    **Troubleshooting:** A Kubernetes bug (will be fixed in 1.12) combined with
+    a Skaffold [bug](https://github.com/GoogleContainerTools/skaffold/issues/887)
+    causes load balancer to not to work even after getting an IP address. If you
+    are seeing this, run `kubectl get service frontend-external -o=yaml | kubectl apply -f-`
+    to trigger load balancer reconfiguration.
+
 ### (Optional) Deploying on a Istio-installed cluster
 
 > **Note:** you followed GKE deployment steps above, run `skaffold delete` first
diff --git a/skaffold.yaml b/skaffold.yaml
index b1cd87e..ce4eb49 100644
--- a/skaffold.yaml
+++ b/skaffold.yaml
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-apiVersion: skaffold/v1alpha4
+apiVersion: skaffold/v1alpha5
 kind: Config
 build:
   artifacts:
diff --git a/src/adservice/build.gradle b/src/adservice/build.gradle
index 736522e..e06eb17 100644
--- a/src/adservice/build.gradle
+++ b/src/adservice/build.gradle
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ repositories {
 group = "adservice"
 version = "0.1.0-SNAPSHOT" // CURRENT_OPENCENSUS_VERSION
 
-def opencensusVersion = "0.16.1" // LATEST_OPENCENSUS_RELEASE_VERSION
+def opencensusVersion = "0.17.0" // LATEST_OPENCENSUS_RELEASE_VERSION
 def grpcVersion = "1.15.0" // CURRENT_GRPC_VERSION
 def jacksonVersion = "2.9.6"
 def prometheusVersion = "0.3.0"
diff --git a/src/adservice/src/main/java/hipstershop/AdService.java b/src/adservice/src/main/java/hipstershop/AdService.java
index 9ba3329..1224efe 100644
--- a/src/adservice/src/main/java/hipstershop/AdService.java
+++ b/src/adservice/src/main/java/hipstershop/AdService.java
@@ -207,16 +207,24 @@ public class AdService {
     // Registers logging trace exporter.
     LoggingTraceExporter.register();
     long sleepTime = 10; /* seconds */
-    int maxAttempts = 3;
+    int maxAttempts = 5;
+    boolean statsExporterRegistered = false;
+    boolean traceExporterRegistered = false;
 
     for (int i=0; i<maxAttempts; i++) {
       try {
-        StackdriverTraceExporter.createAndRegister(
-            StackdriverTraceConfiguration.builder().build());
-        StackdriverStatsExporter.createAndRegister(
-            StackdriverStatsConfiguration.builder()
-                .setExportInterval(Duration.create(15, 0))
-                .build());
+        if (!traceExporterRegistered) {
+          StackdriverTraceExporter.createAndRegister(
+              StackdriverTraceConfiguration.builder().build());
+          traceExporterRegistered = true;
+        }
+        if (!statsExporterRegistered) {
+          StackdriverStatsExporter.createAndRegister(
+              StackdriverStatsConfiguration.builder()
+                  .setExportInterval(Duration.create(60, 0))
+                  .build());
+          statsExporterRegistered = true;
+        }
       } catch (Exception e) {
         if (i==(maxAttempts-1)) {
           logger.log(Level.WARN, "Failed to register Stackdriver Exporter." +
diff --git a/src/adservice/src/main/resources/log4j2.xml b/src/adservice/src/main/resources/log4j2.xml
index f050ded..177c483 100644
--- a/src/adservice/src/main/resources/log4j2.xml
+++ b/src/adservice/src/main/resources/log4j2.xml
@@ -6,9 +6,9 @@
       <!-- This is a JSON format that can be read by the Stackdriver Logging agent. The trace and
            span IDs are interpreted by Stackdriver, and "traceSampled" is a custom field. -->
       <JsonLayout compact="true" eventEol="true">
-        <KeyValuePair key="logging.googleapis.com/trace" value="$${ctx:opencensusTraceId}"/>
-        <KeyValuePair key="logging.googleapis.com/spanId" value="$${ctx:opencensusSpanId}"/>
-        <KeyValuePair key="traceSampled" value="$${ctx:opencensusTraceSampled}"/>
+        <KeyValuePair key="logging.googleapis.com/trace" value="$${ctx:traceId}"/>
+        <KeyValuePair key="logging.googleapis.com/spanId" value="$${ctx:spanId}"/>
+        <KeyValuePair key="traceSampled" value="$${ctx:traceSampled}"/>
      </JsonLayout>
 
     </Console>
diff --git a/src/cartservice/.vs/cartservice/DesignTimeBuild/.dtbcache b/src/cartservice/.vs/cartservice/DesignTimeBuild/.dtbcache
deleted file mode 100644
index bfe1ed8..0000000
Binary files a/src/cartservice/.vs/cartservice/DesignTimeBuild/.dtbcache and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/src/cartservice/.vs/cartservice/v15/.suo b/src/cartservice/.vs/cartservice/v15/.suo
deleted file mode 100644
index c0d4b5c..0000000
Binary files a/src/cartservice/.vs/cartservice/v15/.suo and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/src/cartservice/.vs/cartservice/v15/Server/sqlite3/db.lock b/src/cartservice/.vs/cartservice/v15/Server/sqlite3/db.lock
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29..0000000
diff --git a/src/cartservice/.vs/cartservice/v15/Server/sqlite3/storage.ide b/src/cartservice/.vs/cartservice/v15/Server/sqlite3/storage.ide
deleted file mode 100644
index 56758a8..0000000
Binary files a/src/cartservice/.vs/cartservice/v15/Server/sqlite3/storage.ide and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/src/cartservice/.vs/cartservice/v15/Server/sqlite3/storage.ide-shm b/src/cartservice/.vs/cartservice/v15/Server/sqlite3/storage.ide-shm
deleted file mode 100644
index 5d79d37..0000000
Binary files a/src/cartservice/.vs/cartservice/v15/Server/sqlite3/storage.ide-shm and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/src/cartservice/.vs/cartservice/v15/Server/sqlite3/storage.ide-wal b/src/cartservice/.vs/cartservice/v15/Server/sqlite3/storage.ide-wal
deleted file mode 100644
index 854c462..0000000
Binary files a/src/cartservice/.vs/cartservice/v15/Server/sqlite3/storage.ide-wal and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/src/checkoutservice/main.go b/src/checkoutservice/main.go
index cbc408f..990b004 100644
--- a/src/checkoutservice/main.go
+++ b/src/checkoutservice/main.go
@@ -99,6 +99,7 @@ func main() {
 }
 
 func initStats(exporter *stackdriver.Exporter) {
+	view.SetReportingPeriod(60 * time.Second)
 	view.RegisterExporter(exporter)
 	if err := view.Register(ocgrpc.DefaultServerViews...); err != nil {
 		log.Warn("Error registering default server views")
diff --git a/src/emailservice/requirements.txt b/src/emailservice/requirements.txt
index 37f6f10..17f0799 100644
--- a/src/emailservice/requirements.txt
+++ b/src/emailservice/requirements.txt
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ PyGObject==3.30.1
 python-json-logger==0.1.9
 pytz==2018.5
 pyxdg==0.26
-requests==2.19.1
+requests==2.20.0
 rsa==4.0
 SecretStorage==3.1.0
 six==1.11.0
diff --git a/src/frontend/main.go b/src/frontend/main.go
index 8939def..5046432 100644
--- a/src/frontend/main.go
+++ b/src/frontend/main.go
@@ -143,6 +143,7 @@ func main() {
 }
 
 func initStats(log logrus.FieldLogger, exporter *stackdriver.Exporter) {
+	view.SetReportingPeriod(60 * time.Second)
 	view.RegisterExporter(exporter)
 	if err := view.Register(ochttp.DefaultServerViews...); err != nil {
 		log.Warn("Error registering http default server views")
diff --git a/src/productcatalogservice/server.go b/src/productcatalogservice/server.go
index 0b8efef..a727922 100644
--- a/src/productcatalogservice/server.go
+++ b/src/productcatalogservice/server.go
@@ -90,6 +90,7 @@ func run(port int) string {
 }
 
 func initStats(exporter *stackdriver.Exporter) {
+	view.SetReportingPeriod(60 * time.Second)
 	view.RegisterExporter(exporter)
 	if err := view.Register(ocgrpc.DefaultServerViews...); err != nil {
 		log.Info("Error registering default server views")
diff --git a/src/recommendationservice/requirements.txt b/src/recommendationservice/requirements.txt
index 7e77517..54e9a43 100644
--- a/src/recommendationservice/requirements.txt
+++ b/src/recommendationservice/requirements.txt
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ pyasn1-modules==0.2.2
 python-json-logger==0.1.9
 pytz==2018.5
 PyYAML==3.13
-requests==2.19.1
+requests==2.20.0
 rsa==3.4.2
 six==1.11.0
 uritemplate==3.0.0
diff --git a/src/shippingservice/main.go b/src/shippingservice/main.go
index 35f7ed4..523731c 100644
--- a/src/shippingservice/main.go
+++ b/src/shippingservice/main.go
@@ -129,6 +129,7 @@ func (s *server) ShipOrder(ctx context.Context, in *pb.ShipOrderRequest) (*pb.Sh
 }
 
 func initStats(exporter *stackdriver.Exporter) {
+	view.SetReportingPeriod(60 * time.Second)
 	view.RegisterExporter(exporter)
 	if err := view.Register(ocgrpc.DefaultServerViews...); err != nil {
 		log.Warn("Error registering default server views")