diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 57cf1b7b..51a9ca1d 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 *.pyc
 .*.swp
+*.egg
 docs/.build
 docs/_build
 build/
diff --git a/mongoengine/base.py b/mongoengine/base.py
index 0f4c7284..9505d416 100644
--- a/mongoengine/base.py
+++ b/mongoengine/base.py
@@ -257,7 +257,7 @@ class TopLevelDocumentMetaclass(DocumentMetaclass):
         new_class = super_new(cls, name, bases, attrs)
         
         # Provide a default queryset unless one has been manually provided
-        if not 'objects' in dir(new_class):
+        if not hasattr(new_class, 'objects'):
             new_class.objects = QuerySetManager()
 
         user_indexes = [QuerySet._build_index_spec(new_class, spec)
@@ -418,11 +418,8 @@ class BaseDocument(object):
                 self._meta.get('allow_inheritance', True) == False):
             data['_cls'] = self._class_name
             data['_types'] = self._superclasses.keys() + [self._class_name]
-        try:
-            if not data['_id']:
-                del data['_id']
-        except KeyError:
-            pass
+        if data.has_key('_id') and not data['_id']:
+            del data['_id']
         return data
     
     @classmethod