Electronics Setup and Apartment Hunting - Paris Friday Update

The All-Important Electronics Setup
I'm leaving this mostly to Dave to figure out ... but this week we made our first big purchase: The Slingbox. Do you know about these? You can watch whatever you have access at home anywhere you have decent wifi just by hooking up this box to your cable. It's pretty cool.

To be honest, I'm not concerned about watching my shows in Paris. But I think having TV continuity will help with homesickness (especially for the girls). If you've ever traveled internationally and found the only English-speaking program was a Crocodile Dundee movie marathon (like we did last week), it is a little frustrating when all you want to do is put up your aching feet and watch the new Modern Family.

Also, there's this "expat guy named Jack" that everyone knows about who can fiddle with your wifi ISP so that Netflix thinks you're in San Francisco and you can watch shows that haven't released to France yet. He's a near-mythical being, from the way people talk about him ... and another thing I'll leave up to Dave to figure out.

Waiting for Paperwork
Still waiting on our resident's visa from the French consulate and I'm getting antsy. We need it to rent an apartment and buy cellphones, etc. When when when?!

Apartment Hunting Continues
I Mean ... Come On! Gorgeous!
While I can do daily searches and find all kinds of sweet Paris apartments through websites, I'm obviously limited by being thousands of miles away.

Dave is planning another trip for some meetings in November and will fold in apartment hunting at that time. Ideally, he'd find the perfect apartment so we can start the rental paperwork and have it ready for a December move-in. But that's dependent on the visa and what's available while he's there. Fingers crossed.

This is Funny Stuff
Through a few Paris-themed podcasts I discovered this hilarious youtube series called "What the F#*K, France." Created by an English expat comic, it's all about the French and their many unique quirks, such as aloof Parisian women and the general obsession with cheese. Not for the kids. The best part ... these little 4-minute episodes are shown on French TV (with the French subtitles). I mean, they're totally OK with this guy making fun of them! I love that!



Related posts: 
The Paris Move
Past Paris Friday Updates

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