Studio711.com – Ben Martens

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.  He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.  Come and see the place where he lay.  Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee.  There you will see him.  Now I have told you.”  Matthew 28:5-7

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Every year, the Cirque du Solei show comes to Marymoor Park in Redmond and sets up their tents for a month or two. We’ve always talked about going and this year we finally pulled the trigger. We were a little hesitant because we’ve seen some Cirque-style shows on the cruises and haven’t been that impressed. WOW. I’m so glad we went to this! It made those other shows look like a grade school performance.

The particular show we saw was called Amaluna. The story line is something like two people who fall in love and are surrounded by people with freakish athletic ability and a lizard man. Spoiler alert: the lizard traps the guy in a giant tub of water but he escapes and marries the girl in the weirdest wedding you’ll ever see.

But seriously, there was some incredible talent in the show. From unicycles to slack lines and teeter totter acrobatics to some kind of crazy light twirling thing, this show had a wide variety of acts. There were definitely some boring parts like the two clowns that came out between acts, but overall the show moved quickly and was very entertaining. The video below gives you a rough idea of the show, but it doesn’t look nearly as impressive as it did in person.

One note for those looking to buy tickets: you can pay a LOT to see this show. The seats cover bout 70% of a full circle and the most expensive seats are right up the middle. We sat in the second section from one end and still had a great view at about a third of the price. We also saved money by sitting in the very top row. We were prepared with binoculars but didn’t need them at all. There are only maybe 30-40 rows in the place so it makes very little difference unless you’re in one of the first couple rows. I’d happily sit in the cheap seats again.

So even though I wasn’t sure if I’d enjoy this kind of show, I can definitely recommend it now!

I generally shop at Home Depot because it’s closer than Lowes, but as I wandered through Lowes recently, I wondered what is different between the two companies besides the colors. Here’s what a little internet research turned up:

• Size: Home Depot has 500 more stores than Lowes
• Original: Lowes started first but they lagged until the 90s when they decided to turn themselves into a nicer version of Home Depot. They tried to accomplish that with better service and better looking stores.
• Money: Home Depot has a 5.91% profit on $73 billion in revenue. Lowes does 3.9% on $51 billion. Home Depots profit margin is one of the best in the business.
• Growth: Home Depot’s stock has gone up 150% in the last five years. Lowes has gone up 50%.
• Price: Price comparison are almost exactly identical when you look at a large project.
• Products: Home Depot has more tile and toilets for your bathroom remodel but Lowes has more appliances for your kitchen or laundry room.
• Returns: Both have almost identical return policies, but while Home Depot will only give you 30 days to return damaged goods, Lowes gives you 90 days.
• Military: Both stores will offer discounts to military personnel (Home Depot and Lowes details.)

So as expected, these two companies really are extremely similar. It looks like Home Depot takes the edge in the business world, but the consumer probably won’t notice the difference.

When you spend tens of thousands of dollars on a new car, it’s more than a little frustrating to have the dealer slap their thirty cent emblem on the back and give themselves free advertising. I didn’t push it when we bought our car because every car on their lot already had it, but it sure is tacky.

I’ve heard that you can remove stickers and emblems before, but I was nervous about screwing up the paint or the clearcoat. I emailed car guru MattM for some advice, and with that (and some YouTube videos) as training, I headed out to the garage. My tools were warm water, a sponge, hair dryer, a plastic putty knife, Goo Gone and a micro fiber cloth. Here are the steps I followed. Please note this was the first time I’ve ever tried this and if you screw up your car, don’t blame me.

1. Use the warm water to clean the area and start heating up the emblem. Dry it off.
2. Fire up the hair dryer and warm the emblem and the area around it. Don’t leave the hair dryer in one spot for too long as it’s possible to make the paint bubble up. Your goal is that the emblem or sticker should feel warm to the touch, but not hot. Think about how your car feels when it’s been sitting out in the sun on a 100 degree day. I didn’t get near that hot but that was my gauge for how far I was willing to go.
3. Use the plastic scraper to carefully start to lift up the emblem. Try to pull it off leaving as little of the glue behind as possible.
4. Use your micro fiber cloth and the Goo Gone to remove any remaining glue.
5. Wash the area again and check for any remaining residue.
6. I waxed the area just in case I’d removed any wax or clearcoat in the process.

It all worked remarkably well for me. You can’t even tell that anything was there!