Every winter, the movie world travels to the small ski town of Park City, Utah, to indulge in top-flight independent films and corporate-sponsored parties for 10 days during the Sundance Film Festival, which winds down this weekend.

Though for some the fest is filled with having fun on the slopes or hobnobbing with stars, for journalists like me, the experience is a full-out endurance test with little eating or sleeping.

Here's a glimpse at my time this year at America's most famous film festival.

SEE ALSO: We watched the new ESPN documentary on O.J. Simpson and there are some explosive revelations

Though most stay in the countless condos dotting Park City, there are some hotels, and I put up camp at the Best Western Plus Landmark Inn & Pancake House (no, I didn't have time for the pancakes).

It wasn't close to the theaters that show the films or the parties on Park City's downtown Main St., but every morning the hotel provided a shuttle to all the action.

And my hotel also provided a Continental breakfast starting at 6 a.m. every day, so I was able to jam a couple pieces of fruit into my bag for each day ahead.

You're putting your home on the market. But before you let buyers inside, you wonder – is your house ready to be judged? Is your furniture OK? Can you keep the homage to your favorite sports team in the basement? And exactly how clean do you need to keep your home at all times?

Home staging is growing increasingly important in the real estate industry, where there's stiff competition between homeowners vying for the best property values. As homeowners seek the highest selling price, many have turned to home staging as a way to present their home in the best light possible.

"You're marketing what's likely your largest asset, and for a lot of people also their largest source of debt, and so you want to take that seriously and do whatever you can to make your home the most appealing," says Julie Chrissis, a professional home stager and owner of Chrissis & Company Interiors in Boston.

Here are some tips to stage your home to make it sell, and sell well:

SEE ALSO: 11 things that will trash your home's value

1. Less is more.

The old saying holds true for home staging, particularly because you want to highlight the features of your home, rather than crowd rooms with furniture.

"If a buyer comes in and says, 'Oh look, they've got a sofa, two chairs, a cocktail table and a TV in here. I could definitely get another chair, and I could get a sofa table in here,' that's a good thing," Chrissis says. "Versus someone who has furniture shoehorned into the space … If it looks like a furniture showroom — that doesn't help sell the home."

2. It needs to be neat.

If you're living in your home while you have it on the market, keep in mind that people might — and hopefully will — scrutinize every room in the house while you're not there. That means you shouldn't leave your dirty laundry on the floor.

Jessica Flavell, owner of Flavell Home Staging in Rockville, Maryland, says a tidy home matters in helping buyers envision the space as their own. "Make sure, while your house is on the market, you tidy every day before you leave — make the beds, put the dishes away," Flavell says.

3. No family photos or religious symbols.

Real estate agents will be the first to tell you this about your home, and home stagers echo the sentiment. By taking out those personal touches, potential buyers won't wonder about who lives in the home, and will instead picture themselves there.

Michelle Minch, owner of Moving Mountains Design in Pasadena, California, says homeowners should remove "any photographs or artwork that has a face with eyes," because buyers often focus on the people in the image more than the features of the home.

"You don't want somebody to come and look at your house, and look at a picture of you, and say, 'My family isn't like that,' or, 'I don't look like this,' or, 'They're different than me, so this house isn't for me,'" Minch says. "We want them looking at the house, not being distracted by the people who live in the house."

4. What you own can work.

In most cases, stagers can make many of your existing furnishings work, with a few little tweaks. Flavell says she often supplements some details, such as rugs, pillows or artwork, to brighten the room or highlight the best parts of the room.

However, some rooms need a bit more work, depending on the state of the furniture. If the tables or couches are old or don't fit in the space well, Flavell says she often offers to bring in "fresher pieces."

5. Not all rooms need staging.

If you've already moved out of your home, don't worry about filling every single room with furniture again. The most important thing is to look at what you have and decide which rooms will best benefit from extra help.

Flavell says she typically starts with five key rooms for staging — the living room, dining room, kitchen, master bedroom and master bathroom. However, depending on what needs further attention and the homeowner's budget, other rooms can be staged in addition to, or instead of, the usual five rooms.

For example, particularly small rooms are good for staging, Flavell says. "A lot of buyers can't envision where their sofa's going to fit, or, [if they can] really fit a queen-size bed," she says.

Chrissis notes that other rooms may be difficult to furnish because of size or awkward dimensions.

"If you have a teeny, tiny nine-by-nine bedroom, you might want to stage that because it's a trickier space," Chrissis says, while showcase rooms, such as a paneled library or sunroom with tall windows, benefit from staging to highlight the space.

If you're looking for a straight-forward answer to the question of how having a kid will impact your success, you'll be sorry to hear that it doesn't exist.

Sure, your decision to become a parent could make your life utterly miserable and send your career careening into the abyss — then again, it could be the most fulfilling decision you've ever made and set you up to take on the world.

Simply put, it's complicated — and in many ways, too subjective — and I doubt we'll ever have a comprehensive, one-size-fits-all answer.

But hopefully these studies will begin to unpack the question a little and help us better understand the many factors at play.

SEE ALSO: The science behind why paid parental leave is good for everyone

DON'T MISS: Science says parents of successful kids have these 11 things in common

Parents, especially mothers, face bias in the workplace.

"Motherhood triggers assumptions that women are less competent and less committed to their careers," reads a recent report out of LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Company. "As a result, they are held to higher standards and presented with fewer opportunities."

The report points to a study out of Cornell that found employers tended to discriminate against mothers.

As part of the study, researchers sent employers fake, almost identical résumés with one major difference: some résumés indicated that the job applicant was part of a parent-teacher association.

While male job candidates whose résumés mentioned the parent-teacher association were called back more often than men whose résumés didn't, women who alluded to parenthood in this way were half as likely to get called back than women who didn't.

The study participants also rated mothers as the least desirable job candidates and deemed them less competent and committed than women without children or men. At the same time, applicants who were fathers were rated significantly more committed to their job than non-fathers and were allowed to be late to work significantly more times than non-fathers.

Having a child can help you earn more money — if you're a father.

"For most men the fact of fatherhood results in a wage bonus; for most women motherhood results in a wage penalty," research group Third Way's president Jonathan Cowan and resident scholar Dr. Elaine C. Kamarck write about "The Fatherhood Bonus and The Motherhood Penalty: Parenthood and the Gender Gap in Pay." 

In the academic paper, author Michelle J. Budig, a professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, writes that, "While the gender pay gap has been decreasing, the pay gap related to parenthood is increasing."

In her 15 years of research on the topic, Budig found that, on average, men earn 6% more when they have and live with a child, while women earn 4% less for every child they have.

Sadly, "the women who least can afford it, pay the largest proportionate penalty for motherhood," as high-income men see the biggest pay raise for having children while low-income women see the biggest dip.

"A lot of these effects really are very much due to a cultural bias against mothers,"Correll tells The New York Times.

The New York Times notes that in her previous work, Budig found that dad’s taking more parental leave mitigates the motherhood penalty, as evidenced by countries like Sweden that incentivize fathers to take paid leave and have a smaller pay gap.

Parents tend to be more productive.

Contrary to the popular belief that parents, who often have more responsibilities than childless workers, are more likely to be distracted at work, research suggests that parents may in fact be more productive than their childless counterparts.

After analyzing the amount of research published by more than 10,000 academic economists, researchers commissioned by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis found that, over the course of a 30-year career, mothers are generally more productive than childless women, with mothers of at least two children being the most productive, while fathers of at least two children are more productive than fathers of one child and childless men.

This uptick in productivity takes several years to take effect, however, as both moms and dads initially see lower levels of productivity after having children.

Some barbershops are making the most of your grooming experience, considering every comfort from high-octane motorcycle-inspired chairs to curated grooming products and, if you’re lucky, a cold beer.

SEE ALSO: 4 Things To Tell Your Barber When You Get A Haircut

Fellow Barber

In July 2013, F.S.C. Barber founder Sam Buffa opened Fellow Barber, an 800-square-foot men’s grooming destination in SoHo. This cool-guy hangout seats eight and sells skin care and fragrances from Odin, Malin + Goetz and Ursa Major. A 600-square-foot patio is the perfect springtime waiting area.33 Crosby Street; fellowbarber.com

Kiehl’s

The brand’s Hell’s Kitchen satellite provides a two-seat space and features design flourishes like reclaimed-wood floors, black-and-white subway tiles and two striking bronze chandeliers. In addition, this outpost houses a massive selling space for the brand’s exhaustive inventory of lotions, cleansers and, of course, shaving cream. 678 Ninth Avenue; kiehls.com

Paul Labrecque Salon & Spa

The hair guru’s latest location opened inside Chelsea Piers in spring of 2013 and includes his fourth barbershop—a one-chair operation manned by Ryan Looney and Tom Moschetto, both of whom trained under Labrecque himself. Pier 60, 20th Street & Hudson River Park;paullabrecque.com 

Is it possible for a new fast-casual concept to become the Chipotle of Hawaiian food — complete with raw fish?

Wisefish Poké, which opened this week in New York City, hopes to find out. New York Magazine’s Grub Street said the concept was “like the Hawaiian Chipotle,” with build-your-bowl style ordering at a counter. However, instead of chicken or carnitas, customers choose from raw ahi tuna, salmon, or tofu to craft their individualized bowl of poké.  

Poké is a Hawaiian specialty, traditionally made with chunks of tuna marinated in soy and sesame. It’s already popular in parts of California, where Sweetfin hopes to build its own fast-casual poké empire.  

However, poké is still a foreign concept to most of the US. So, Business Insider decided to send two people who have never tried poké to check out Wisefish.

SEE ALSO: We tried KFC's controversial new chicken — here's why you shouldn't believe the critics

The restaurant is located in Chelsea, marked by a sign with a trendy logo.

We were immediately impressed by the atmosphere of the tiny shop. Most of the seating was restricted to a communal table, but everything had a modern and thoughtful feel.

There are lots of sweet little details, like the plant in this Sriracha nook.

Aliens could be out there. We simply don't know it yet.

Part of the reason we're still pretty clueless is because our technology is still in its infancy.

But scientists and engineers are rapidly ramping up the tools we'll need to answer one of humanity's most compelling questions: Are we alone?

Here are six ways scientists plan to delve into this mystery in the recent and coming years.

LEARN MORE: The 12 most compelling scientific findings that suggest aliens are real

SEE ALSO: We're on a collision course with the Andromeda Galaxy — here's what will happen to Earth

We might have to dig: Mars was once a warm, wet world with conditions ideal for life, but any life that's still around is probably buried deep underground. Robots can't dig deeper than a few inches, so it might take astronauts to collect the right samples. NASA is currently exploring the novel landing technology we'd need to land humans on Mars.

Read more about why we should send humans to Mars here.

Swimming is another option: Sloshing beneath the surface of Jupiter's tiny moon Europa is thought to be an ocean larger than anything on Earth. But if we're going to test those waters, it'll take landing a robot on the surface to drill into the icy surface. NASA plans to launch its first mission to Europa in the 2020s that might include a lander.

Learn more about NASA's upcoming mission to Europa here.

We might just need to look: For decades, the SETI Institute (Search for Extraterrestrial Life) has used radio dishes to listen for signs of aliens. But now, SETI scientists are working on an instrument that could look in the optical regime (what we see with our eyes) for any bizarre signals from intelligent ET.

Read about what the former director of the Center for SETI Research at the SETI Institute, Jill Tarter thinks about aliens here.

VSCO is our go-to app for making our Instagram pictures stand out.

It gives you gorgeous filters and editing options that are far superior to Instagram's native ones. And it even has its own network that is essentially a more artistic and curated version of Instagram.

Promoting beautiful photos is baked into VSCO's DNA, so it's no surprise that the company does a lot to help independent creatives. In 2013, VSCO launched its Artist Initiative, a $1 million scholarship fund that supports and showcases artists. This comes in forms like gallery exhibitions and books.

VSCO Artist Initiative recently released a best of 2015 selection of photos — some with titles and others untitled — and they are truly stunning.

You can see the entire collection of breathtaking photos below.

SEE ALSO: There's one app you should be using to make your Instagram pictures look so much better

i am not a machine

Getting rich is a long-term game— but significant savings doesn't have to be.

A few lifestyle changes here and there can add up to help you save hundreds, or even thousands, each month.

Ramit Sethi, author of "I Will Teach You To Be Rich," launched a challenge to help people save $1,000 in a week, accompanied with a wealth of tips on his blog to help people achieve their savings goals.

We sifted through Sethi's advice and chose our favorites.

If you aren't up for an intense week, you can use these tips over the course of a month to similar effect:

SEE ALSO: 21 lifestyle changes to make if you want to save more money

1. Create a 'no spending' day once a week.

Choose one day each week and challenge yourself to not spend a single dollar.

"Technically, even if you don't open your wallet, you're still spending money on things like rent, car insurance, and subscriptions,"writes Sethi. "You just didn't count them. But that's even more of a reason to create a 'no spending' day on the money in your wallet: because you can actively control it."

The key to this tip is putting it in your calendar so it becomes a consistent system.

Estimated savings: $5 to $75

2. Optimize your cell phone bill.

"Many of us (including me) pick a cell phone plan, then never check to see if it's the right one for us based on our usage,"writes Sethi. "Because the average cell phone bill is about $50, that's $600 per year of money you can optimize."

When buying a new cell phone, Sethi likes to pay a little bit more upfront by choosing the unlimited data and text messaging plan. He then sets a three-month check-in on his calendar, and analyzes his spending patterns after a few months to see where he can cut back.

You can use this method for any usage-based services, he says.

Estimated savings: $20 to $600

3. Postpone a single large purchase until next month.

"It's very simple,"writes Sethi. "New lawn mower — wait. New TV — wait. New dishwasher — wait. You can set a calendar reminder to check on it in 30 days. A couple of things will probably happen when you do this: First, prices will probably drop. Second, chances are you'll realize you didn't really need it."

Estimated savings: $50 to $3,000

Rising to a staggering 3,281 feet tall, Saudi Arabia's Jeddah Tower could one day set a world record as the tallest skyscraper on Earth. It will also have the world's tallest observation deck.

Located in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, it's the brainchild of SWA Architects, the same firm behind the current world's tallest building, Burj Khalifa, in Dubai.

It's slated for completion sometime in 2019.

Here's what it'll look like.

Jeddah Tower will feature an extensive network of restaurants, hotel rooms, apartments, parks, and a shopping mall. Basically, it's a city inside a skyscraper.

One of the tower's key features is its observation deck, located on the building's 157th floor. That's 55 stories higher than the deck at New York City's Freedom Tower, making it the tallest observation deck in the world.

Jeddah Tower will cost the Jeddah Economic Company and Saudi Arabia's Alinma Investment — the two groups financing the project — roughly $2.2 billion. That's about $700 million more than it cost to build Burj Khalifa and $1.6 billion less than the Freedom Tower.

Nearly 40 years ago, the CIA declassified a mountain of documents related to UFO sightings.

Now that "The X-Files" has been revived as a miniseries, the CIA decided to resurface those files. Many of them trace back to the early 1950s, at a time when political tensions were still frozen over and flying objects were seen as national security threats.

Here are some of the most interesting.

A memo on national security and the 'vulnerability to air attack' from flying saucers

On October 2, 1952, the Assistant Director in the Office of Scientific Intelligence sent a memo to the Director of the entire CIA with the subject "Flying Saucers."

As the AD wrote, "'Flying saucers' pose two elements of danger which have national security implications. The first involves mass psychological considerations and the second concerns the vulnerability of the United States to air attack."

The AD recommended more research be conducted to explore the "implications of the 'flying saucer' problem."

(If you listen closely enough, you can almost hear them typing the word "drones" decades ahead of time.)

Uzbekistan's mysterious light show

The late 1940s in the Uzbekistan capital city of Tashkent saw more unidentified light shows than it could count. 

"From May to September 1947,"a CIA information report reads, "three light phenomena happening at intervals of about 15 minutes were seen almost every night between 9 and 10 p.m. local time." At its highest point, the light seemed to be roughly a fifth the diameter of a full moon.

As the report details, the light always began as a bright red ball. Within seconds it would grow a fiery tail and then morph into a green, then white, mass.

"Smoke trails, noises, or detonations were not noticed."

Fiery disks looming over Belgian uranium mines

A daily newspaper in Vienna, of all publications, reported on a peculiar sighting of "two fiery disks" hovering over uranium mines in mid-August, 1952.

As the report explains, the two objects supposedly tore through the airspace in a highly erratic fashion. At one point they would be soaring vertically away from the onlookers, and the next they'd be diving down "to within 20 meters of the tree tops."

Commander Pierre of the local airfield took off in his own fighter plane to wrangle the unknown aircraft. However, "Pierre had to give up pursuit after 15 minutes since both disks, with a loud whistling sound which he heard despite the noise of his own plane, disappeared in a straight line toward Lake Tanganyika."

Pierre later estimated the disks were traveling more than 900 miles per hour. 

With a decade in the industry under her belt, Rooney Mara has already established herself as one of the most serious actors of her generation in Hollywood, securing her second Oscar nomination this year for her role in "Carol." 

The 30-year-old first received wide attention with her incredible transformation into Lisbeth Salander in David Fincher's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," a role that rendered her unrecognizable and earned her that first Oscar nod.

Before that, her biggest roles where in a "Nightmare on Elm Street" reboot and "The Social Network," in which she appears for just a few minutes.

Mara, who's also the sister of "House of Cards" star Kate Mara, has six films slated for this year, including lending her voice to "Kubo and the Two Strings," a 3D stop-motion film from Laika animation studios.

Here's a look at her career so far: 

SEE ALSO: The extraordinary 40-year Hollywood career of Jennifer Jason Leigh, who just got her first Oscar nomination

Patricia Rooney Mara was born April 17, 1985 in Bedford, New York. Her father is the senior vice president of player personnel for the New York Giants (his family founded the team) and her mother was a part-time real estate agent (her family founded the Pittsburgh Steelers). Mara has said that football is "the glue that holds our family together."

Source: Vogue, New York Post 

She began to go by her middle name (also her mother's maiden name) Rooney because she "liked it better.""I think it’s a really cool name, and I never really liked my first name, Patricia. A lot of people in my family [both her dad and younger brother] go by their middle name, so it was the natural course," she told the Wall Street Journal.

Source: WSJ

She has three siblings: an older brother, a younger brother, and an older sister, Kate, who is also an actress and has appeared in "House of Cards" and "The Martian."

Source: Vogue

Looking to get out of dodge for winter break? For the college crowd, this can mean anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks. 

But between rent, tuition, books and of course- food- the real questions is where can you afford to getaway to!

Here are the best budget trips for winter break that I would recommend.

SEE ALSO: 5 golf vacations you should take this winter

Hit the beach.

Forget the stress of finals in the warmth of the golden sunshine! The golden sands of Florida and California beckon you to their pristine shores, and invite you to relax.

Winter is low season in both destinations, which means hotels are more affordable to book than ever. Skate down the boardwalk, fill up on homemade sorbet or enjoy some delicious Mexican or Cuban food.

San Diego has a bunch of holiday events going on, including their annual Parade of Lights on the bayfront, and Balboa Park decked out in holiday cheer. Los Angeles has so much to offer the holiday tourist as well!

Party hard in a tiki-themed cocktail bar or escape inland to one of the many theme parks- Universal Studios, Disneyland, and a bunch of others all within a few miles.

Las Vegas

Adopt the life of a high roller for a few days in Las Vegas! Though the Neon City is known for its excessive spending and gambling, you can still enjoy all the Strip has to offer on a budget.

Breakfast buffets and friendly hostels are a great way to maintain your budget while savoring Vegas’ hottest casinos and nightclubs. Watch the Bellagio Fountain show which goes off every half hour, stroll down Fremont Street, and check out happy hour specials!

Montreal

Want a white Christmas? Head up to visit the northerly neighbors in Canada! Montreal and Quebec City should be your first stop—both have the charm of the old world with the festive spirit of the new.

Hit the ski slopes, practice your mad snowboarding skills, or have a calm afternoon at the ice rinks, which is free at certain rinks around the city in winter.

Youth hostels are a-plenty and very affordable, around 15 CAD, if you’re traveling on a budget. Plus—good news for the sophomore—the drinking age is 18, so you can sample those classy cocktails you’ve always wanted to try!

Stepping into a management role for the first time can be scary.

It doesn't help that there's a ton of conflicting management advice out there, and sifting through it could take years.

That's why we recommend starting with these 10 books, which offer practical insights on leading a team.

We didn't simply stick with traditional business reads — instead we included novels, psychological research, and the musings of a Roman emperor.

Each of these books will help prepare you to tackle the myriad challenges of managing people.

SEE ALSO: 33 business books every professional should read before turning 30

'Drive' by Daniel H. Pink

Now that you're in charge of a team of people, how will you inspire them to perform at their best?

In this bestselling business book, Pink explains why, contrary to popular belief, extrinsic incentives like money aren't the best way to motivate high performance. Instead, employers should focus on cultivating in their workers a sense of autonomy, mastery, and purpose in order to help them succeed.

Using real-life anecdotes and research, Pink walks readers through each of these three concepts and why they're absolutely crucial in the business world.

Find it here >>

'The One Thing You Need to Know' by Marcus Buckingham

According to Buckingham, great managers are able to identify their employees' individual strengths and capitalize on them. This approach, he argues, is considerably more effective than trying to improve people's weak points.

Among the tips he offers for motivating high performance: Set clear expectations, offer praise and recognition, and show people you care about them.

It's a compelling read that will make the transition from managing yourself to managing others that much easier.

Find it here >>

'Thinking, Fast and Slow' by Daniel Kahneman

This 2011 bestseller is a favorite of Jack Zenger, cofounder and CEO of leadership consultancy Zenger/Folkman.

Kahneman, a psychologist who won the Nobel Prize in economics, breaks down all of human thought into two systems: the fast and intuitive "System 1" and the slow and deliberate "System 2." Using this framework, he lays out a number of cognitive biases that affect our everyday behavior, from the halo effect to the planning fallacy.

As you transition into people management, this book will help you anticipate the psychological stumbling blocks you and your team will encounter, and give you scientific strategies for overcoming them.

Find it here >>

If you don't believe the Chinese government's economic growth statistics, then you're not alone — and you haven't been for some time.

That is perhaps why global-consulting firm The Conference Board decided to use other metrics to measure growth in China. Those metrics make growth look much weaker than the government says.

The difference is so dramatic that Australian investment bank Macquarie put them in chart form in a recent report.

But before you take a look at the charts, here's why The Conference Board decided to change their metrics:

CB has now adopted estimates by Professor Wu and the late Professor Maddison. What is the difference between the official and Wu-Maddison estimates? Over the last decade, China has been gradually moving from the Soviet system of collecting information as an output model (measuring production by sectors with information flowing from local officials up the chain) and towards the internationally recognized system of national accounts (SNA), which relies not on internal reporting but rather on sophisticated statistical surveys of consumer spending and investment. Whilst China's systems have been gradually changing, the transition is far from complete and China continues to operate on a version of output system.

The Soviet system, called the Material Product System, measures an economy based on output — how many tons of steel it is producing, how much grain it is collecting. You get the picture.

Wu and Maddison use something that looks like the System of National Accounts.

In 1998, when Asia was going through a massive currency crisis, Wu and Maddison called China out for its industrial-production growth number. The country said IP grew 0.3%. The professors argued that it actually contracted -0.1%.

You can read about all the drama that unfolded in "Understanding China's Economic Indicators: Translating the Data into Investment Opportunities," a book by Bloomberg economist Tom Orlik.

Macquarie extrapolated a few key points in the differences between CB's numbers and the official numbers:

• If CB is right, China's sectors are more volatile than we thought. For example, the country has reported basically flat retail numbers every month for about two years.
• The CB numbers are more in line with an index used by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, which famously includes electricity use.
• If CB's numbers are right, the question isn't whether or not China is going to have a hard landing — it's whether or not the hard landing has happened already.
• If CB's numbers are right, then stimulus measures and investment won't do much for an economy that's too far gone.

And now for the charts:

First you have your plain GDP number. The official rate was 6.9% in 2015. Wu and Maddison put it at 3.7%. Note: Their metrics have shown GDP growth higher than the government rate in the past.

"TFP" stands for "Total Factor Productivity." It measures economic output not generated by resources, like land or labor. Wu-Maddison have that going deep into the negative zone.

This chart shows GDP growth over hours worked. It's measured in the Geary-Khamis dollar, aka the international dollar, from 1990.

Urban skylines are constantly changing, with modern, unique structures rising amidst more traditional buildings.

From decade to decade, new developments have long breathed fresh life into cities, awing residents with their aesthetics and innovations.

Here are five unusual and eagerly awaited developments set to open this year.  

SEE ALSO: North Korea's architecture is surprisingly impressive and expectedly weird

The Sky Pool (London, UK)

Londoners who enjoy luxury, fancy themselves good swimmers and have somewhat of a daredevil streak may want to consider moving into the Embassy Gardens development in the city’s Nine Elms district. Once completed, the building will be the first to have a “sky pool” situated 10 stories high. The 25-meter-long pool will connect the development’s two apartment buildings. Even more thrilling, the Ballymore Group, the developers of Embassy Gardens, plan to make the pool entirely transparent. But not to worry: The pool’s glass is 8 inches thick.   

The Louvre Abu Dhabi (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates)

Dubbed “the universal museum in the Arab world,” the Louvre Abu Dhabi is the result of a joint agreement between the United Arab Emirates and France to help establish the UAE as the next great art destination. Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel, the building will be covered by a white dome that is “an emblematic feature of Arabian architecture, evoking mosque, mausoleum and madrasa,” the museum says on its official website. While the opening of the museum has faced repeated delays, it is expected to open to the public sometime this year. 

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (San Francisco, CA)

After undergoing a three-year-long transformation, SFMOMA will reopen to the public in May 2016. It will boast three times the previous exhibition space and an architectural design “that weaves the museum into the city as never before,” the museum announced late last year.

Norwegian architecture firm Snøhetta’s new design expands upon the 225,000-square-foot building that was originally designed by Mario Botta. This recent iteration of SFMOMA will create 45,000 square feet of free public access to the ground-floor galleries. 

When people renovate their homes, they often factor in whether those renovations will add to the resale value.

While few homeowners recoup the full cost of home renovations, updated bathrooms and kitchens, plus other improvements, can help you sell your home more quickly, and for more money.

The added bonus is if you do the renovations while you live in the home, you get to enjoy the renovated spaces for at least a little while before it goes on the market.

But some renovations can actually damage your home's value. These supposed improvements not only add nothing to your bottom line, they may make your home less attractive to potential buyers and bring down its value.

How much they hurt will depend. If the home is in a highly desirable location, potential buyers may be willing to overlook purple walls and an ugly kitchen counter, or they may be willing to do their own renovations. In a subdivision where many similar homes are for sale, the one with bad renovations may linger unsold.

In general, real estate agents and design experts advise keeping resale in mind when you renovate, especially if you don't plan to stay in the home forever.

"Renovations are always best done when they're neutral and tasteful," says Gea Elika, principal broker of Elika Real Estate in New York and a regional director of the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents. "Don't personalize it if you plan on selling it."

According to Remodeling magazine's 2015 Cost vs. Value report, the home renovations that bring the greatest return when you sell are a new entry door (which brings you 101.8% of what you spend on the national average), the application of manufactured stone veneer (92.2%) and a garage door replacement (88.4%). The ones with the smallest return are a sunroom addition (48.5%), a home office remodel (48.7%) and a bathroom addition (57.8%).

The value of some features varies by geography. A swimming pool, for example, is more desirable in Florida or Hawaii than in Minnesota or Maine, but even in Florida some buyers might not want the added maintenance cost.

In Pittsburgh, where flat yards are rare, a home with a fabulous flat yard may sell quickly no matter what has been done to the interior. "You could get away with doing certain things to a house here that you couldn't in Florida," says Kevin Brown Jr., president of Praedium Real Estate Services in Pittsburgh and a regional director of NAEBA.

Here are six renovations that may hurt your home's selling price or keep it on the market longer than it would be otherwise.

SEE ALSO: 9 home improvements you should always negotiate

Converted garage.

Some homeowners see converting a garage as a cheaper way to add more living space than building an addition — and it is. But many buyers would prefer a garage, especially in cold and rainy climates. "That room will always feel like a cold garage," says Sabrina Booth, an agent with Redfin in Seattle. "A garage is much more valuable than an extra room in Seattle."

Eliminating a bedroom or powder room.

In older homes, combining smaller rooms in the public living space might add to the value because today's homeowners like large, open spaces. Eliminating a powder room, however, is a bad idea. And turning a bedroom into a master closet or combining two bedrooms to create a large master suite may not pay. "You've eliminated a whole living space," Brown says.

Heavy personalization.

We all want to make our homes into our signature spaces. But some unusual features may turn off potential buyers. Matt Francis, branch manager of Better Homes and Gardens Mason-McDuffie Real Estate in the San Francisco Bay Area, once showed a $1.5 million home with a custom kitchen that had two college dorm refrigerators instead of a full-size fridge and no freezer. "Anything that is too personal or too specific would not appeal to the broadest pool of buyers," Booth says.

In the market for a home?

If yes, then you may want to consider looking in the hottest neighborhoods out there, where your home value could continue to grow over the next several decades.

Real-estate site Redfin released its annual list of the 10 hottest neighborhoods nationwide, a prediction based on the most recent growth in page views and favorites per home on their site.

Their experts also chose three neighborhoods in 30 of the largest US cities that are expected to break through as the most desirable places to buy a home in 2016.

Here, we've highlighted the top neighborhood for each city, along with the median number of days a home is on the market in that neighborhood and the median sale price, from Redfin. We also included the median sale price of homes in the metro area for the month of December, also from Redfin, to give you a price comparison.

SEE ALSO: How long you have to live in 15 major US cities to make buying a home worth your money

Atlanta, Georgia: West End

Median days on the market: 48

Median sale price, West End: $122,000

Median sale price, Atlanta: $195,000

See more West End real-estate trends.

Austin, Texas: Hyde Park

Median days on the market: 29

Median sale price, Hyde Park: $449,000

Median sale price, Austin: $273,000

See more Hyde Park real-estate trends.

Baltimore, Maryland: Hampden

Median days on the market: 32

Median sale price, Hampden: $198,000

Median sale price, Baltimore: $235,000

See more Hampden real-estate trends.

OS X might seem simple — but it's an absolute powerhouse if you know how to use it.

Some of the easiest ways to get the most of out of Apple's desktop operating system are hidden in plain sight: Keyboard shortcuts.

Flick between applications and tabs. Take screenshots. Fine tune settings. Knowing the right keyboard shortcuts will save a second here and there —  and over the course of a week, or a month, or a year, it adds up dramatically. 

Here are 13 of the most useful keyboard shortcuts that will save you time on the little things so you can focus on the big things:

1) ⌘ + Space — Bring up 'Spotlight' search

Apple improved its search in the latest version of OS X. The new search bar, accessed by typing ⌘ + Spacebar, can do sums, search the web, and convert currency. 

2) ⌘ + F — Find things in documents

Finding words in documents is tedious, but typing ⌘ + F speeds up the process. The command works in Pages, Safari, Chrome, Word, and just about everywhere else.

3) ⌘ + A — Select everything

Selecting everything, especially in a big document, can take an age. Hitting ⌘ + A selects everything instantly.

In August 2011, Tim Cook took the job as CEO of Apple, leaving many wondering if he could fill the shoes left by his friend and mentor, Steve Jobs.

Today, Apple is the most valuable company in the world, and products like the iPhone continue to rule the market, leaving Cook looking pretty good.

But when he was first announced for the role, he was a big question mark. He had come out of seemingly nowhere to lead such a big, important company.

What a lot of people don't know is that Apple would never have gotten where it is without Cook's help early on in Jobs' reign.

Here's how Tim Cook rose through the ranks and became Apple's CEO.

SEE ALSO: 39 photos of how Steve Jobs saved Apple from disaster and led it to rule the world

Timothy Donald Cook was born in Mobile, Alabama, on November 1, 1960. He grew up in nearby Robertsdale, where he went to high school.

His father, Donald Cook, was a shipyard worker. His mother, Geraldine Cook, worked at a pharmacy.

In 1982, Cook graduated from Alabama's Auburn University with a degree in industrial engineering.

There are plenty of obvious — and not so obvious— signs your boss dislikes you.

If you're getting the sense that's the case, you'll want to do everything you can to turn things around.

"The relationship between you and your boss is likely the most important work relationship you can cultivate, so it's worth spending intentional time and effort building trust and fostering a good relationship," says Michael Kerr, an international business speaker and author of "The Humor Advantage." 

If your boss doesn't like you, it can negatively affect almost every aspect of your work and your overall happiness. "You may be unfairly passed over for promotions or raises; miss out on important assignments; never receive fair feedback; or be subjected to an atmosphere of resentment and distrust ultimately leading to increased levels of stress that eventually force you to search for a new job. It can also reflect poorly on your performance reviews and mean that you miss out on getting a fair referral when you move on to another job," Kerr explains.

But know that building trust and maintaining respect with your boss isn't about being a "suck up" or "cloying sycophant," he says. "It's about earning their respect. It's about being true to yourself and being authentic. And it's not about becoming best buddies with your boss." 

Also keep in mind that there are terrible bosses out there who are bullies and rule through intimidation and fear. "In these cases, you may never win and you need to realize that the best thing you can do is to not compromise your own integrity and principles and move on to a better work situation," Kerr says.

Here's what to do if you think your boss secretly hates you: 

SEE ALSO: 21 signs your boss secretly hates you

Remember that disagreement is not the same as hatred. 

Ask yourself if you truly believe your boss genuinely dislikes you, or if they simply don't agree with all of your ideas. 

If you're fairly certain it's the former, follow the steps below. But if it's the latter, "try to embrace a difference of opinion with the idea that you'll learn something, and do your best to not take the opposing side as a personal attack," suggests Lynn Taylor, a national workplace expert and the author of "Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant: How to Manage Childish Boss Behavior and Thrive in Your Job."

Get a reality check from others. 

If you think you're being singled out by your manager and are "hated," check in with a trusted colleague who does like you to get their opinion. "They may tell you differently: that this is how the 'culprit' operates with everyone. Or, you may be vindicated, which gives you a green light to speak up," says Taylor. "But be sure to keep the conversation between you and trusted colleague discreet."

Be proactive.

It's wise to check in with colleagues — but know that if you believe or feel in your gut that there's a problem, there probably is, Taylor says.

"It doesn't really matter whether your boss really likes you or not. If you're sitting around worrying about the relationship and it's affecting your productivity, then you should absolutely address it," she explains. "And your instincts are probably right, anyway. Your boss may have too much on their plate to address the issue, so it behooves you to try and resolve it so you can produce stellar results. Discontentment festers — it won't be solved by inertia and stalemate."