diff --git a/gramps2/ChangeLog b/gramps2/ChangeLog
index d46a6fc59..ecbc9c1c9 100644
--- a/gramps2/ChangeLog
+++ b/gramps2/ChangeLog
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 2005-08-05  Alex Roitman  <shura@gramps-project.org>
 	* src/Spell.py: Make more robust to failure.
 	* src/Makefile.am: Ship new file.
-	* NEWS: Update.
+	
+	* src/EditPerson.py (did_data_change,on_apply_person_clicked):
+	Convert date text to unicode before parsing.
+	* src/Spell.py: Comment out to disable spell-checking for 2.0.6.
 
 2005-08-05  Martin Hawlisch  <Martin.Hawlisch@gmx.de>
 	* src/plugins/Checkpoint.py (rcs): define variable comment before using it. 
diff --git a/gramps2/src/EditPerson.py b/gramps2/src/EditPerson.py
index 7429fe3de..cf71ef767 100644
--- a/gramps2/src/EditPerson.py
+++ b/gramps2/src/EditPerson.py
@@ -1324,8 +1324,8 @@ class EditPerson:
         orig record"""
 
         surname = unicode(self.surname.get_text())
-        self.birth_date_object = self.dp.parse(self.bdate.get_text())
-        self.death_date_object = self.dp.parse(self.ddate.get_text())
+        self.birth_date_object = self.dp.parse(unicode(self.bdate.get_text()))
+        self.death_date_object = self.dp.parse(unicode(self.ddate.get_text()))
 
         self.birth.set_date_object(self.birth_date_object)
         self.death.set_date_object(self.death_date_object)
@@ -1721,8 +1721,8 @@ class EditPerson:
 
         name = self.pname
 
-        self.birth_date_object = self.dp.parse(self.bdate.get_text())
-        self.death_date_object = self.dp.parse(self.ddate.get_text())
+        self.birth_date_object = self.dp.parse(unicode(self.bdate.get_text()))
+        self.death_date_object = self.dp.parse(unicode(self.ddate.get_text()))
 
         self.birth.set_date_object(self.birth_date_object)
         self.birth.set_place_handle(self.get_place(self.bplace,1))
diff --git a/gramps2/src/Spell.py b/gramps2/src/Spell.py
index 5a08c7bb5..2f19ec76e 100644
--- a/gramps2/src/Spell.py
+++ b/gramps2/src/Spell.py
@@ -27,26 +27,28 @@ present, we default to no spell checking.
 
 """
 
-success = False
-try:
-    import gtk
-    import gtkspell
-    import locale
+#### FIXME: Uncomment after 2.0.6 is released.
 
-    text_view = gtk.TextView()
-    spell = gtkspell.Spell(text_view)
-    lang = locale.getlocale()[0]
-    spell.set_language(lang)
-    success = True
+## success = False
+## try:
+##     import gtk
+##     import gtkspell
+##     import locale
 
-except ImportError, msg:
-    print "Spell.py:", msg
-except RuntimeError,msg:
-    print "Spell.py:", msg
-except SystemError,msg:
-    print "Spell.py:", msg
+##     text_view = gtk.TextView()
+##     spell = gtkspell.Spell(text_view)
+##     lang = locale.getlocale()[0]
+##     spell.set_language(lang)
+##     success = True
 
-if success:
+## except ImportError, msg:
+##     print "Spell.py:", msg
+## except RuntimeError,msg:
+##     print "Spell.py:", msg
+## except SystemError,msg:
+##     print "Spell.py:", msg
+
+if False:
     class Spell:
         def __init__(self,obj):
             self.spell = gtkspell.Spell(obj)