A coffee-pause with a beauty...

users.coffee

User = require '../models/user'

exports.index = (req, res, next) ->
  [page, perPage] = [parseInt(req.query.page, 10) or 0, 5]
  require('async').parallel [
      (next) -> User.count next,
      (next) -> User.find({}).sort(username: 1).skip(page * perPage).limit(perPage).exec next
    ], (err, [count, users]) ->
      return next err if err?
      res.render 'users/index', {users, page, perPage, count}

users.js

var User = require('../models/user');

exports.index = function(req, res, next) {
    var page = parseInt(req.query.page, 10) || 0;
    var perPage = 5;
    
    return require('async').parallel([
      function(next) {
        return User.count(next);
      },
      function(next) {
        return User.find({}).sort({username: 1}).skip(page * perPage).limit(perPage).exec(next);
      }
    ], function(err, results) {
      var count = results[0];
      var users = results[1];
      
      if (err) {
        return next(err);
      }
      
      return res.render('users/index', {users: users, page: page, perPage: perPage, count: count});
    });
};