Ash and I were both eligible for phone upgrades as of December 24, so we went out that morning and used our “New Every Two” credit to get two free (after rebate) Droid Eris phones.

The phones take a little getting used to since we’ve never had smart phones before. For instance, it automatically downloaded all my gmail contacts into my phone book, and I had to figure out how to stop that from happening. So there’s a learning curve. But it’s nice to finally have a device that I think is every bit as useful as the iPhone, yet on the Verizon Wireless network so it can make phone calls inside Friday’s at the Block, or at Rainforest Cafe, or at any other place where we’ve seen the iPhone fail at being a phone.

Friday we arrived in Paris after a very long journey. We met the owner of our vacation apartment and got the keys and the lay of the land from her. We had dinner at Le Sketch, a place we found next to a fountain called “Le Fontaine de Mars” on the corner of Rue Saint-Dominique and Rue de l’Exposition. Ash had the magret de canard au poivre (duck in pepper sauce). “C’est magnifique!” David had the veal. For dessert we shared an excellent tarte tatin. It was good because it was “just a little tart.” Then we walked to the base of the Eiffel Tower and looked at souvenirs.

Saturday we had pain au chocolat and café crème (which was trés bien) at Le Den on the corner of Rue de Grenelle and Rue Cler. Ash was able to get our train tickets for the week in French, and we went to Parc Disneyland for Halloween. It was crowded. We liked the architecture, the dragon lair, and the castle, but the only ride we went on was Phantom Manor. “Trés frighteningue!” (I don’t know how to say “scary” in French.) We saw Ash’s friends Erinn, Christina, Carlos, and Casey in the “Once Upon a Dream” parade. We also saw the “Fantillusion” parade, which David called “the electrical parade part deux.” We bought some souvenirs for the nieces before we left.

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I’ve noticed that a lot of new GPS devices are “widescreen” (i.e., 16:9 ratio instead of 4:3 ratio). Call me crazy, but… isn’t a GPS interface actually better in the traditional full-screen aspect ratio? I’d rather see more of what’s directly ahead of me on the map than what’s directly to my left and right. For both televisions and computers, the wide aspect ratio makes sense: Movies are filmed that way, and documents can be viewed side-by-side. But I think they need to draw the line somewhere—based on the actual use of a screen—and that line should have been drawn before GPS devices.

The lemon tree stabbed me with one of its thorns today while I was trying to water it, which was especially rude considering that a) the temperature was 105 degrees today, and b) much of the state, including this county, was declared a “drought disaster area” today. No respect, I tell ya.

Despite their high price tag and countless standard features, I’ve noticed that BMW vehicles don’t come with turn signals. I don’t even think it’s an option. With all that German engineering, it seems like they could figure out how to put a little blinking light on the back of the car that lets other drivers know when they’re about to be cut off. What a horrible oversight!

I noticed a new section on my Amazon.com homepage (I assume it’s different for every customer, but perhaps you have this too) called “Food Oddities: Products Tagged as Odd.” There are three products listed, and they’re not the sort of product suggestions I’d like to see right at dinnertime:

Fresh Whole Rabbit $38.50

Pork Chocs – Sugar Free Chocolate Dipped Pork Rinds $12.95

Booty Sweat, 8.4oz. Can (Pack of 24) $44.99

I’d like to point out that the Pork Chocs use sugar-free chocolate, for those of you who are health-conscious or have special dietary needs.

By the way, you need to click on the Fresh Whole Rabbit and check out the customer-uploaded images. Be sure to roll over them for their “notes.”

It’s been a long time since Ilse’s been so excited about a treat (a treat meant specifically for dogs, not for people), so I have to blog about these. She absolutely loves these Zuke’s Mini Bakes that we got at Anaheim Feed.

I’ve never seen them at Petco, so I’m not sure how long they’ve existed. They only have the Zuke’s Mini Naturals, which smell gross. I went to Anaheim Feed to find a different treat but ended up deciding to try these. We got her the “Peanut Butter ‘n Blueberryz” flavor because she likes peanut butter more than turkey, and we think she’s allergic to chicken.

She’s been getting them for over a month now, but she still dances and acts crazy when she knows she’s going to get one. She usually loses interest in her treats pretty quickly, so her reaction to these is a welcome change. And they come in a huge box (325 pieces) for a low price (about $5), so that’s a welcome change too!

As a bonus, they’re made without wheat, corn, and soy, which is good if your dog has allergies, or if you’re a dog-allergy-hypochondriac.

Ashleigh and I are going to Paris in November, and we’re working on a list of must-see places, must-do attractions, and most importantly: must-eat food. If you’ve been to Paris and can recommend a specific restaurant, be sure to let us know! If you have a strong opinion about a museum/monument that we simply must see–or mustn’t waste our time seeing–let us know about that too!

I’m specifically looking for places to have fondue, recommendations for Seine sightseeing, fun little shops and boutiques, fancy dinner that won’t gross me out, and places to sit and drink coffee and people-watch.

It was announced today that Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, who attempted to assassinate President Gerald Ford, is going to be released from prison on August 16. The other would-be Ford assassin, Sarah Jane Moore, was released back in 2007.

Both were members of the Manson “family,” and are featured in the musical Assassins by Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman.

Someone needs to immediately start writing a fictional sequel (also a musical, of course) in which the two women reunite, and conspire once again to do what they failed to do 34 years ago: to assassinate Gerald Ford.

I imagine the two senior citizens will go on a long journey to accomplish their goal, only to fail at the very end, when they reach President Ford’s home and realize that he passed away in 2006.

By now I’m sure everyone realizes that “Free Credit Report dot com” isn’t really free; you have to enroll in their “Triple Advantage” program to get your free report, and if you forget to cancel, you get billed monthly for their credit monitoring service.

For anyone seeking truly free alternatives, I want to share my own choices for credit tools that don’t cost me anything but do a decent job of keeping an eye on my credit reports and credit score.

1. To get your credit reports completely free once per year, you can use AnnualCreditReport.com. There’s no commitment and no cost. You just pick any (or all) of the three credit bureaus, and you can instantly get a free report once a year to see exactly what’s on your file.
2. To check your credit score as often as you like (although I think it’s only really updated once a month), you can use Credit Karma. It only uses one credit bureau, but that should be fine unless you’re conducting a really sensitive transaction like a real estate purchase.
3. To keep an eye out for identity theft, you can use a service that’s included as a free perk for members of the Auto Club: CreditCheck Select, which monitors your credit report and alerts you whenever there’s a change (like a new account or an inquiry). I know that’s not technically free, but it is if you’re already a AAA member.

Using those three services, you can keep a pretty close eye on your credit without having to pay anything extra!