For some, the weekend's a sacred retreat from the hustle and bustle of work.

For others, the weekend is a myth — Saturday and Sunday are mere extensions of the workweek and a chance to get ahead of the competition.

Judging from the ways successful people spend their — at least theoretical — time away from work, there really is no right or wrong way to structure your weekends. It's all about striking the right balance for you.

Here's how some of the most successful people do it:

SEE ALSO: Donald Trump, Mark Cuban, and 13 other successful people share some of their biggest pet peeves

Richard Branson hangs out on his island in the Caribbean.

While Branson told the Telegraph he spends half the year traveling the world on business trips, he said he spends the other half on his tiny private Caribbean island, Necker.

"I know I shouldn't, but I still like to party on Friday nights," he admitted. The business mogul said he dances until the wee hours of the morning to the sounds of the island's band, the Front Line, and heads to the crow's nest on his roof around 2 a.m. to watch the stars.

Despite being up late, Branson still wakes up early, usually before everyone else, and goes for a swim around the island.

"It's exquisitely beautiful; I'll see spotted eagle rays, giant leatherback turtles and a number of species of shark, such as nurse sharks and lemon sharks,"he told the Telegraph. "It's not frightening; if you're swimming with sharks they don't tend to bother you at all, it's only if they mistake you for a seal that they might have a nip."

His morning swim is usually followed by a healthy breakfast of fruit salad or natural muesli, though on occasion he spoils himself with kippers or an English breakfast.

The day's activities could include tennis, kitesurfing, scuba diving, or hanging out with dolphins and whales in his tiny submarine. But Branson said afternoons are always spent on the beach, oftentimes playing chess with his kids. 

Saturday evenings consist of more partying, and Sundays include rock jumping, paddle boarding, and boat races, Branson told the Telegraph

Elon Musk spends time with his children.

Musk, the billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, has five sons, with whom, he told Mashable, he hangs out on the weekends.

But he also admitted at South by Southwest in 2013 that some of this "quality time" is spent sending emails.

"Because they don't need constant interaction, except when we're talking directly," he said. "I find I can be with them and still be working at the same time."

Arianna Huffington catches up on email.

Though she admits that she likes to go through her inbox Saturdays, the "Thrive" author has said she never expects a response from her staff.

"If I send an email at 11 at night, it's to get it off my to-do list, but I don't expect a reply,"she told Mashable. "And I make that very clear, I don't expect replies over the weekend."

What if you could drink wine without ever worrying about it spoiling?

A device called the Coravin, which lets you pour wine without ever popping the cork, could make it possible.

Coravin uses a tiny needle that punctures through the cork so the wine doesn't aerate. This means you can taste a bit of one bottle, stash it away, and revisit it months — even years — later. No one has to choose between red or white again.

Coravin officially launched in 2013, but the device's inventor Greg Lambrecht has been testing the device for 14 years. He tells Tech Insider that wine can last for decades by using the gadget.

Lambrecht, who holds two MIT engineering degrees, has spent most of his career designing medical equipment. In the late '90s, he helped invent a super skinny needle for children undergoing chemotherapy, since it can puncture skin relatively painlessly. The Coravin uses a variation of that same needle.

Here's how it works.

Normally, open wine bottles go bad after about a week because of a chemical reaction with oxygen. But if you pour it using the Coravin, it completely bypasses the oxidation problem. First, you clamp the device on top of a bottle.

Next, you push down the needle through the cork.

Then you press the lever on top to inject argon gas.

Despite breathless coverage of Venezuela's vanishing supply of condoms, toilet paper, and beer, perhaps the country's most debilitating shortage has been that of food, which appears to be a motivating factor for growing antigovernment sentiment.

"I want the recall because I don't have food," one woman told the Venezuelan commentary site Contrapunto, referring to a referendum to recall President Nicolas Maduro that has so far reportedly drawn more than a million signatures in support.

"We want out of this agony — there is too much need in the streets," another woman told Contrapunto. "We have much pressure because there is no food and every day we have to ask ourselves what we are going to eat."

SEE ALSO: In the face of Venezuela's rising violence, the police are adding to the carnage

Soaring prices and rampant shortages of most goods have left many Venezuelans struggling to put regular food on their tables and maintain a balanced diet.

Government supporters have long pointed proudly to the improvement in eating under socialist leader Hugo Chavez, who used oil income to subsidize food for the poor during his 14 years in office (1999 to 2013) and won UN plaudits for it.

But Reuters notes that Maduro, Chavez's successor, has faced a collapse in the price of oil, which provides almost all of Venezuela's foreign income. He has also blamed an opposition-led "economic war," which critics deride as an excuse.

Living in a severe recession and a dysfunctional state-run economy, poorer families say they sometimes skip meals and rely more on starch foods, Reuters reports.

"We are eating worse than before,"Liliana Tovar, a Caracas resident, told Reuters in late April. "If we eat breakfast, we don't eat lunch, if we eat lunch, we don't eat dinner, and if we eat dinner, we don't eat breakfast."

At times, high demand and limited supplies have left Venezuela's shelves heavily stocked with items no one buys, like soft drinks, while high-demand items like milk are nowhere to be found.

According to a recent study, 87% of Venezuelans say their income is now insufficient to purchase their food needs. Shoppers routinely spend hours in lines to buy staples such as corn flour and laundry soap, turning lines into sites of shoving matches and now more frequent attempts to plunder shops.

That study of nearly 1,500 families also found a rising percentages of carbohydrates in diets, and it said 12% of those interviewed did not eat three meals a day.

To try to shore up wages, Maduro on Sunday announced a 30% minimum-wage increase, which comes after a 25% hike on March 1 and is the 33rd wage boost since 1999. Beginning this month, workers and pensioners will earn 15,051 bolivars a month — only about $13, based on the black-market conversion rate, according to El País.

That amount may become even more paltry. Venezuela's inflation rate in 2015 was 180.9%, according to the central bank, and the International Monetary Fund expects inflation in the country to reach 720% this year.

A minimum wage is now only about 20% of the cost of feeding a family of five, according to a monitoring group cited by Reuters. Lines snake around state-run supermarkets, where regulations keep prices low, from before dawn.

"You have to get into these never ending lines — all day, five in the morning until three in the afternoon — to see if you get a couple of little bags of flour or some butter,"said taxi driver Jhonny Mendez, 58.

"It makes a person want to cry."

The opposition in Venezuela's national assembly last week ordered the firing of the country's food minister because of the country's worsening food situation, though the Maduro government may ignore or circumvent the order.

Reuters recently documented the in-home food stocks of residents in Petare, a poor barrio east of Caracas where once stalwart government support has weakened over the past few years:

It's May, which in New York apparently means 55 degrees and rainy? It's very confusing. Thankfully, this month brings the balmy locales of "Uncharted 4: A Thief's End" to the PlayStation 4 (and our living rooms).

But hey, dozens of games are coming out this month. Who can keep up? Probably not you, what with your new basketball league and that new meat smoker that just arrived. So we're here to help! 

"Battleborn"

"Battleborn" is just one small part of a growing trend in video games: it belongs to a genre known as a "hero shooter," which refers to a competitive multiplayer shooter where everyone plays a very different and distinct type of character with widely varying strengths and weaknesses.

The thing that separates "Battleborn" from the competition (one of which is further down on this list) is that it has a dedicated story mode that can be played solo or with friends. These "hero shooters" tend to be big and colorful, and "Battleborn" is no exception: it's made by Gearbox Studios, the same company that made "Borderlands," a similarly brash and goofy series.

Release date: May 3

Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

"SUPERHOT"

First-person shooters have a reputation for being carbon copies of one another, but "SUPERHOT" (yes, all caps) takes the foundations of the genre and turns it into something completely new.

Here's how it works: in "SUPERHOT," time moves forward as you physically move through the level. Stop moving and your enemies slow to a crawl. This means that you have to intricately plan each one of your movements, anticipating where your enemies are headed and only moving when the time is right.

Release date: May 3

Platforms: Xbox One (previously released on PC)

"Uncharted 4: A Thief's End"

The "Uncharted" series has long been gaming's closest analogue to the summer blockbuster movie season, and "Uncharted 4: A Thief's End" looks to continue the trend.

"Uncharted" games are a big explosive mess in the best possible way, but "Uncharted 4" will likely contain more emotional heft than previous entries in the series. Naughty Dog has said this is the last "Uncharted" game that they will make, so brace yourself for an emotional ending to one of PlayStation's biggest flagships.

Release date: May 10

Platforms: PlayStation 4

Warning: spoilers ahead for Sunday's episode of HBO's "Game of Thrones."

You would have to avoid all contact with the outside world to not know that something major happened with Jon Snow (Kit Harington) on Sunday's episode of "Game of Thrones."

It was a big episode for other reasons, too: Fan theories for season six took root, and we lost a couple major players.

Social-media monitoring platform Brandwatch found an astounding 145,000 "Thrones"-related mentions on Twitter during the one-hour episode and identified the moments when conversation peaked.

Here are the five most talked-about moments from the latest "Game of Thrones" episode "Home":

SEE ALSO: 6 important things you probably missed on this week's 'Game of Thrones'

SEE ALSO: The 5 most talked-about moments from the 'Game of Thrones' premiere

5. Hodor (Kristian Nairn) speaks! In a rare flashback, we see a young Hodor. While still huge, Hodor used to talk. And his name is Wyllis.

9:08 p.m. ET — More than 1,400 mentions.

4. The excitement is palpable. Fan reaction to the episode beginning inspired a lot of mentions.

9:01 p.m. ET — More than 1,800 mentions.

3. Ramsay (Iwan Rheon) stabs and kills his father. Many mentions also stated how this was Lord Bolton's (Michael McElhatton) comeuppance for betraying Rob Stark (Richard Madden).

9:36 p.m. ET — Nearly 2,200 mentions.

Robert Herjavec, one of the star investors on ABC's popular "Shark Tank" reality show, just made a quick million bucks on his latest investment: a condo in West Hollywood.

Herjavec paid $3.15 million for the two-bedroom apartment in a tower complex just off the Sunset Strip in January of 2015, records show. He just closed the sale for $4.15 million, the Los Angeles Times reports.

A Canadian entrepreneur, investor, and author, Herjavec has appeared on the ABC series since 2009, investing over $16 million in companies like Tipsy Elves and Breathometer. In more personal news, he recently became engaged to his "Dancing with the Stars" dance partner Kym Johnson. After the proposal, they celebrated with a "big surprise party" back at the condo, according to ABC News.

The 17th-floor aerie has soaring city, ocean, and sunset views and a spacious terrace. See inside the shark's sleek former digs, below.

SEE ALSO: The marketing genius behind Beyoncé has put his chic Tribeca apartment up for sale for $3.5 million

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The 1,627-square-foot condo is on the 17th floor of Sierra Towers, a high-rise just off the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood.

The views are panoramic. It's the only condo tower in the area.

The two-bedroom is a southeast-facing corner unit, giving it enviable vistas from all angles.

In most teenagers’ lives, the agony of waiting tends to be limited to moments that are, in the grand scheme of things, trivial: waiting to find out if you passed a math test, if your crush will text you back, or to hear if you got the lead in the school play.

For Delilah Moore, a high school senior in Maryland, it wasn’t any of those things that led to the torturous waiting period she dealt with in late March. It was something far more consequential.

On the night of Friday, March 25, she hardly slept, because on Saturday morning she’d find out just how much student loan debt she’d be in for the next several years of her life. At least, she’d find out how much debt she’d have if she decided to attend her dream school, which had just accepted her earlier that day.

“For those 24 hours or something I was going crazy,” she said. “I knew it would come down to the money.”

The day after her acceptance into Oberlin College, Moore would receive her financial aid package. She had already done the math, and it wasn’t pretty. All the other colleges she had applied to gave her no financial aid, and she knew she could only count on $10,000 a year from her parents, so Oberlin’s $64,000-a-year price tag (at least for next year) would easily put her in six-figure debt for an undergraduate degree. Moore wants to major in history — which isn’t known as a field of study with high earning potential — and she wants to go to graduate school. Basically, while she wasn’t sleeping that Friday night, Moore was hoping for a financial aid miracle.

Moore gave up on trying to sleep around 5 a.m., when she started refreshing her online applicant status page, waiting for the financial aid update. She watched Netflix to pass the time until 6:30 a.m., when the page finally changed.

“They were relatively generous,” Moore said. The “relatively” is important — even after an $18,000 scholarship and $5,000 grant, she’d have roughly $41,000 to pay for her first year. If that stayed constant for four years (unlikely), and her parents contributed $10,000 a year as planned, she’d still have to come up with about $124,000 on her own. Even though Oberlin offered her much more aid than any other school, it would still be the most expensive, by far.

“I wanted it to be worth that much money. I really wanted to justify the cost,” Moore said. But when she compared the numbers from Oberlin to what she’d pay at her state school option, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, it didn’t make sense. “Is it really worth $100,000 more debt to get the same degree basically? Especially because I’m probably going to go to grad school. The more and more I thought about it, the more I thought, ‘OK come down to earth.'”

She submitted her $500 deposit to St. Mary’s in early April.

SEE ALSO: 6 sneaky ways colleges get you to spend more money

The financial aid time crunch

One of the things that frustrated Moore the most about this decision was how little time she had to make it. Unlike the rest of her college preparations — working for good grades since freshman year of high school, choosing AP courses, taking campus tours and deciding where to apply — this one happened so fast, and very last-minute.

“You have like four weeks,” said Kevin Fudge, manager of consumer advocacy & government relations for nonprofit American Student Assistance. Fudge has more than 15 years of experience in the financial aid world, and he said it’s always been like this: Students and their families talk about college for years, but they only have the hard numbers in front of them for a few weeks before they have to make a major financial decision. Many colleges have a May 1 commitment deadline, but they often don’t send out financial aid information until late March or early April.

Once they have the numbers at hand, they’re not easy to crunch.

“There’s people with advanced degrees who get confused by the difference between a loan and a grant,” Fudge said. “There’s no uniformity to the financial aid letter. Some schools will put Parent PLUS loans in the letter, some will put loans in.” Others don’t.

In short, it’s really confusing. It’s the sort of confusing that makes it easy to commit to a school without really understanding what that will mean for the finances of students and their families once they leave school.

“These are just things that are not explored enough to make informed decisions as consumers,” Fudge said. “In an ideal world, somebody would have been thinking about this four years ago, but most people don’t.”

‘It came out of nowhere’

Moore wasn’t thinking about student loan debt four years ago. Still, many people would consider her one of those students who did everything right as she prepared for college. She got good grades, earned AP credit, did well on the SAT, took courses at a community college and applied for many scholarships.

As she started getting financial aid letters, she realized everything everyone told her would matter in her college decision was nothing compared to figuring out how much debt she could handle. Up until that point, she thought each of those moments — choosing classes, waiting for her SAT scores, deciding where to apply — was the most stressful of all. Not really. It just seemed that way because the test scores, the AP classes — that’s all adults ever focused on when talking to her about college.

“I think it was more stressful, because it wasn’t something that was hammered in from the beginning,” Moore said. “It came out of nowhere so very quickly, and it became so very important so very quickly. Everyone tells you no one pays sticker price, but that’s not entirely true.”

She ended up choosing St. Mary’s because the school accepted more of her AP credits and community college credits than Oberlin, so she’d be starting college with roughly three semesters of credit under her belt. Not only is St. Mary’s cheaper in general, the credit acceptance will allow Moore to graduate early, if she wants to. That’s a huge money saver. In the end, Moore said she realized it would have been irresponsible to go to Oberlin and take on so much debt, given her other options.

When asked about that — that it would be irresponsible for a student to go into six-figure student loan debt for a history degree from Oberlin — Debra Chermonte, VP and dean of admissions and financial aid at Oberlin sent this email statement to Credit.com:

“Oberlin College provides financial assistance to more than 80% of our students and meets 100% of the demonstrated need of every eligible student. The College is predominately committed to providing need-based grant support to eligible students. In cases where a family’s self-determined budget differs from the institutional and federal assessment they may decide to apply for additional federal and private loans outside the college’s recommendation.”

Private student loans often require a co-signer for the student (often one or both parents) and a credit check, making them a difficult option for families who may have low credit scores. (You can check two of your credit scores for free on Credit.com.)

Of course, it’s all a personal decision. Moore decided she wasn’t OK with what she’d have to pay at Oberlin, even though she desperately wanted to go there.

Fudge, the financial aid professional, said he encourages students to talk to people in their planned fields of study if they’re having trouble making decisions about what to pay for school.

“Ask them, ‘What would you do in this position?’ The majority of the time, the elder would tell the younger to choose the most cost-effective option,” Fudge said. That’s what Moore did. She posted about her dilemma to Reddit, where the resounding response, from history professionals and others, was to avoid debt as much as possible. She said it was very helpful in her decision.

More from Credit.com

• Using a Co-Signer: What You Need to Know
• The Best Student Credit Cards in America
• How to Fix Your Credit

This article originally appeared on Credit.com.

When Kentaro Yamada lost his full-time job in 2012, he felt pretty defeated.

"[I felt] that society didn't need me, and it would move along just fine without me," he told Business Insider.

However, Yamada is an eternal optimist, and he decided to turn the downtime into something productive. 

"I decided to make sure one positive thing happened in the midst of that uncertainty, and that was to learn photography seriously," he said.

Greatly inspired by Brandon Stanton, the photographer behind Humans of New York, Yamada knew that he wanted to document people. He decided to add his own magical take: including levitating objects in the shot. 

Photographing both his subjects and their prized posessions, Yamada has now documented a handful of Chicago's own successful entrepreneurs for a project he calls "The Uplifted".

As for his process creating a final, finished image, he said, "I usually capture a subject and objects separately and combine the two later in Photoshop."

Ahead, 13 Chicagoans and their stories, as told by Yamada. 

SEE ALSO: A photographer leans out of a flying helicopter to capture these gorgeous aerial shots of New York City

April Carlisle oversees shopper and customer marking initiatives as a senior vice president at Leo Burnett. This mother of two once competed in the National Jigsaw Puzzle Championships years ago. Yamada had her pose with her prized jigsaw puzzle globe.

Bluford Putnam is the chief economist of the CME Group, browsing through weather reports, unemployment numbers, and currency trends around the world to formulate economic outlooks. Here, he proudly levitates his first published book, "The Monetary Approach to International Adjustment", which he wrote in 1982.

Bruce Daugherty is a senior vice president at one of Chicago's most successful pizzerias, Connie's Pizza. This busy grandfather of four multitasks daily, looking after the supplies at storefronts nationwide.

Drinking preferences are as varied as people: A glass of port by the campfire at sunset, Coronas and limes in a frat basement every Saturday night, weekly cocktails with hand-crushed ice from the bar that calls itself a House of Mixology, or no drinks at all.

And more often than not, knowing what your drinking style is — and learning how to navigate the wide world of drinking for yourself — can be confusing. Which cocktail should you master? Which wine is the best wine? What even counts as an artisan brewery? There are just So. Many. Options.

Luckily for us and our drinking habits subscriptions services are here to help. Here are 6 alcohol subscription service (and one non-boozy service) that take the guesswork — and liquor store runs — out of crafting the perfect bar cart:

SEE ALSO: The 25 best cocktail bars in America, according to Foursquare

DON'T FORGET: Follow Business Insider's lifestyle page on Facebook!

1. If you flip to the back of magazines for the personality quizzes: Bright Cellars

Why it's unique: Once you've completed their online quiz, they'll run it through an algorithm and send wines that match your way.

Deeper dive: Launched by two recent MIT graduates, Bright Cellars chooses the wine for you — all you have to do is fill out a seven-question quiz (What type of chocolate is your favorite? How adventurous are you?) and they'll send four different wines per month your way. Every month you're given the option to rate the wines you received, so the more you use it, the more it will adapt to your taste preferences.

2. If you have dreams about quitting your "desk job," getting a couple tattoos, and working at that secret bar that's behind the taco stand: Bitters and Bottles

Why it's unique: It provides you with all the tools you need (pre-measured booze) to learn how to make a perfect drink at home.

Deeper dive: Each month, Bitters and Bottles sends four to six ingredients, starting with essential alcohols (bourbon) and moving up to more esoteric spirits (mezcal) so that by the end of their twelve-month program, you'll have cocktail-making tips and tricks under your belt, as well as all the essentials of a home bar (each box builds upon the previous box). You'll be a mixologist in no time.

3. If you would never be caught dead with a Coors Light — or anything that's served with a free lime wedge, for that matter: Craft Beer Club

Why it's unique: It sends little-known beers from craft breweries to your door, so you can stay in the know without stalking your craft beer store.

Deeper dive: Each month, Craft Beer Club sends twelve beers (four different types, with three bottles of each) to your door from small American breweries (here's a look at some of their most recently featured). Beer party, anyone?

Every month, PlayStation offers a handful of free games through its premium subscription service called PlayStation Plus. For $49.99/year, you gain access to online multiplayer, exclusive sales on the PlayStation Store, and free games for PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4!

Here are all the games you can get for free starting this week:

"Bionic Commando Rearmed 2"

"Bionic Commando Rearmed 2" is a retro-style sidescrolling action game, but with all the explosions and shininess of the 21st century slapped over it. You play as Nathan "Radd" Spencer, a super macho soldier man with a bionic arm. Shoot stuff and rejoice!

Platforms: PlayStation 3

"God of War: Ghost of Sparta"

Play as Kratos in the handheld version of the brutal action series "God of War." Solve puzzles and hack and slash your way through armies of the undead as you seek to uncover details about Kratos' past.

Platforms: PlayStation Vita

"LocoRoco Cocoreccho!"

In this strange and quirky puzzle game, you control a butterfly and guide little creatures called "LocoRoco" through various psychedelic nature-inspired stages.

Platforms: PlayStation 3

California has many impeccable restaurants where you can enjoy a quality meal.

We recently released our list of the best restaurants in America, which was determined using notable rankings from experts, critics, and diners. You can read our full methodology here. 

Of the 50 restaurants that made our list, 16 of them hail from California.

From San Francisco to Los Angeles, here are the best places to dine the next time you're in the Golden State.

SEE ALSO: The 50 best restaurants in America

DON'T FORGET: Follow Business Insider's lifestyle page on Facebook!

16. Trois Mec — Los Angeles

Chef: Ludo Lefebvre, Jon Shook, Vinny Dotolo

Trois Mec

15. Cafe at Chez Panisse — Berkeley

Chef: Alice Waters

Chez Panisse

14. Campton Place — San Francisco

Chef: Srijith Gopinathan

Campton Place Restaurant

Louis P. Selby was working in his family's confectionery shop on Market Street when the greatest natural disaster that ever hit San Francisco, the 1906 earthquake, shook the city to its core. Selby grabbed a camera, and with his brothers in tow, took to the streets to document the devastation in the days after the event.

For 110 years, those images remained in a leather-bound album kept in Selby and his wife's Bay Area home. In March, Selby's grandson, Doug Gist, unearthed the photos and published them in a book, "When San Francisco Burned: A Photographic Memoir of the Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906."

Here's what transpired in San Francisco through the eyes of the Selby family.

On the morning of April 18, 1906, the people of the Bay Area awoke to an earthquake. It lasted only a minute, but its consequences were devastating.

Source: National Archives

Fires followed the quake, swallowing entire city blocks whole. The tremors broke the city's water mains, making it nearly impossible for firefighters to quell the blaze.

Source: HISTORY

The fires burned for several days and decimated some 500 city blocks. Half of San Francisco's population — roughly 250,000 people — was left homeless.

Source: National Archives and HISTORY

These stylish stays across the globe prove that you don't have to sacrifice location, charm or even luxury when traveling on a budget.

We've found digs that offer everything from sexy rooftop bars and infinity pools to award-winning restaurants and buzzy bars.

SEE ALSO: The marketing genius behind Beyoncé has put his chic Tribeca apartment up for sale for $3.5 million

DON'T FORGET: Follow Business Insider's lifestyle page on Facebook!

El Patio 77, Mexico City

Finding a hotel that won't blow your budget in Mexico City isn't easy, especially in desirable neighborhoods like Condesa and Roma. This sweet eco-friendly hideaway in the up-and-coming Colonia of San Rafael has the antidote. The grand 19th-century home was converted into a boutique stay five years ago, with 8 suites inspired by Mexican states. Inside, you'll find locally-sourced antiques, ornate chandeliers and warm earthy tones. Four of the suites have private bathrooms (the rest are shared), and all come in well under $150. That means plenty of pesos left over to explore the city's world-class culinary scene.

Rocamar, Isla Mujeres, Mexico

Overlook the austere boxy exterior of this boutique hotel and revel in its beachfront location, freshwater pool and private balconies with hammocks that look out onto the water. Every morning, a complimentary breakfast of fresh fruit, toast and coffee is delivered to your room on a rustic wooden trays. Wake up to catch the sun rising over the Caribbean, then stroll five minutes to the beautiful white-sand beach of Playa Norte, the finest on Isla Mujeres.

Hotel Havana, San Antonia, Texas

This hip, pocket-friendly charmer set on the North Riverwalk is housed in a stately Mediterranean Revival 1914 building. Hotelier Liz Lambert — the talent behind cult stays like Marfa’s El Cosmico and Austin's Hotel Saint Cecilia — is behind the stylishly spare design, which fuses classic Spanish Colonial motifs with Cuban-influenced details. The 27 rooms incorporate artfully weathered pine floors, Turkish rugs and original Cuban artworks, along with retro touches like vintage radios and 1950s-inspired Smeg fridges. Downstairs, Ocho restaurant serves up wickedly good bites like sweet plantain griddle cakes with Mexican crema and blueberries, and the best tostados north of the border.

When you live in a shoebox apartment in New York City, taking advantage of every square foot is crucial.

That’s the idea behind the one-bedroom apartment at 150 East 56th Street, which is full of space-saving design hacks.

On sale for a pricey $1.29 million, it packs a living room, kitchen, dining room, office, bedroom, and bathroom into 790 square feet.

I recently toured the apartment in Manhattan’s midtown east. Take a look inside.

The facade looks like a normal Manhattan apartment building.

I took the elevator to the seventh floor and went to the end of the dim hallway. It didn’t look like the type of building that that would house a million-dollar apartment.

When I walked in, it looked larger than I imagined. Dan Sperling, the apartment’s developer, completely gutted and renovated the former apartment to maximize space.

It's important to remember that every interview is a two-way street.

You should be assessing the employer just as much as they're assessing you because you both need to walk away convinced that the job would be a great fit.

So when the tables are turned and the interviewer asks, "Do you have any questions for me?" take advantage of this opportunity. It's the best way to determine if you'd be happy working for this employer, and whether your goals are aligned with theirs. 

"The very process of asking questions completely changes the dynamic of the interview and the hiring manager's perception of you," says Teri Hockett, chief executive of What's For Work?, a career site for women. "Asking questions also gives you the opportunity to discover details that you might not have otherwise unveiled."

Amy Hoover, president of TalentZoo, says there's another reason you should always prepare questions. "It's expected — and if you don't ask at least two questions, you will appear disinterested, or worse, less intelligent and engaged than a prospective employer would like." You should have at least four questions prepared, though, in case your original two are answered through the course of the interview.

But, Hoover says, don't just ask questions for the sake of it. To actually benefit from them, you'll need to think carefully about what you want to ask.

"Your questions can, in fact, make or break an interview," she explains. "If they're not thoughtful, or if you ask something that has already been addressed, this can hurt you way more than it can help. Asking smart, engaging questions is imperative."

Luckily, there are plenty of smart ones to pick from.

Here are 28 questions you should always ask in a job interview — if they weren't already answered — to help you get a better sense of the role and the company, and to leave the interview with a positive, lasting impression:

SEE ALSO: 31 smart answers to really tough interview questions

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Who do you think would be the ideal candidate for this position, and how do I compare?

Hoover recommends this question because it's a quick way to figure out whether your skills align with what the company is currently looking for. If they don't match up, then you know to walk away instead of wasting time pursuing the wrong position for yourself, she says. 

Who would I be reporting to? Are those three people on the same team or on different teams? What's the pecking order?

It's important to ask about the pecking order of a company in case you have several bosses, Vicky Oliver writes in her book, "301 Smart Answers to Tough Interview Questions."

If you're going to be working for several people, you need to know "the lay of the internal land," she says, or if you're going to be over several people, then you probably want to get to know them before accepting the position.

How has this position evolved?

Basically, this question just lets you know whether this job is a dead end or a stepping-stone.

We all want our kids to be happy and successful, so it makes sense to work backward and figure out how to make that happen.

Step 1: To be happy and successful, they need to develop great relationships.

Step 2: To develop those relationships, they need adequate emotional intelligence.

Step 3: To develop emotional intelligence, it helps if their mentors (especially their parents) model good behavior in love and partnerships.

At Scary Mommy, my former colleague Leigh Anderson put together one of the best prescriptions I've seen on how to teach your kids to do this, and why.

She spoke with Carrie Cole, a Gottman Institute trained therapist, about "how to have a good relationship with your partner and how to model one for your kids."

Here are the most important things she came up with. As an added bonus, you can download the free 100-page e-book, "How to Raise Successful Kids: Advice From a Stanford Dean, a Navy SEAL, and Mark Zuckerberg's Dad (Among Others)".

SEE ALSO: A Wharton professor shares 3 science-backed strategies for raising highly creative kids

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

1. Teach them to 'turn toward'

Relationships are dynamic. They're made up of an uncountable number of small interactions. Julie and John Gottman, a husband and wife team of psychologists who are experts in this area, describe these interactions as "micro-behaviors" and "bids for attention."

We "bid for attention" with the people we care about by doing things — starting conversations, for example — in the hope they'll demonstrate interest and warmth. Catching those bids, and showing you value the relationship, requires active listening and empathy.

For example, you might tell your spouse, or another person you care about, "I learned something really cool today." You hope that he or she will "turn toward" you by replying with something like, "Oh? Tell me about it," as opposed to shutting you down: "Can't you see I'm busy?!!!"

So, model this behavior in your relationships, and teach your kids to "turn toward" when the people they care about bid for their attention.

2. Teach them to politely turn down bids for attention

Of course, if we had to "turn toward" every time someone we cared about bid for our attention, we'd never get anything done. Perhaps even a majority of the time, you have to find a way to refrain from "turning toward," in a way that shows you still value your relationship.

My wife is a master at this — of necessity — otherwise she could spend her entire life listening to me dissect political races, place the names of character actors in movies, and tell her arguably funny stories about things that happened in college.

It's really a matter of demonstrating interest in what the people you care about have to say, while making clear the practical limits on your time and attention. In her essay, Leigh offers a simple example — turning down her child's bid for attention simply by saying, "I can't listen to your story right now, but I can after lunch."

So when you can't spend the time you might like responding to a bid for attention, at least turn it down politely — never dismissively.

3. Teach them to 'be overwhelmed without freaking out'

Negative situations are often made worse by allowing your negative emotions to metastasize. So, the goal is to maintain control of your emotions even when you're not in control of the situation.

In the military, we call this "maintaining your bearing." However, it's especially important when stressful situations involve the health or feelings of the people you care about most.  

As Leigh wrote: "Learning to be under stress without taking it out on your nearest and dearest is a valuable relationship skill."

I find it helps to think of a quote from author H.G. Wells, and remember that "the crisis of today is the joke of tomorrow."

A strange business has seen a startling amount of demand over the last couple years in Japan.

So-called "corpse hotels," where families can store their dead relatives for several days before space frees up at crowded crematoriums, are popping up around the country. 

The demand comes from Japan's accelerating rate of old-age deaths. Each year, approximately 20,000 more people die than in the year before, and space in crematoriums is running out.

Corpse hotels might just be a necessary evil when a country starts dying quickly. Here's a look inside.

In the city of Kawasaki, the corpse hotel Sousou is run by Hisao Takegishi. It looks more like an ordinary house or hotel from the street.

"Crematories need to be built, but there isn't any space to do so and that is creating funeral refugees," Takegishi told Reuters.

The building essentially functions as a morgue, but Takegishi believes the experience should be a bit more dignified in its aesthetic.

Unlike traditional morgues, Sousou uses air-conditioned rooms to store the bodies instead of direct refrigeration since he Takegishi doesn't need to store the bodies for as long.

Employees at Sousou can arrange the dead body's casket into a temporary prayer site.

"I think it's great that families and acquaintances can come and visit before she heads off to the crematorium," said one woman, whose mother was staying at Sousou.

Let’s face it — pursuing a passion is easier said than done. You’re stepping out of your comfort zone and trying to get good at something you may know little or nothing about.

Chances are strong that it’ll take some time to turn something you care about into cold, hard profit. Not to mention, you’ll probably fail at your first few attempts.

So, it makes sense that a lot of people begin with a lot of enthusiasm, and then quickly give up because it goes from fun to frustrating really fast.

But there are also those who stick with it and (eventually) reap the benefits. How do you become one of those people? There’s no one right way, but below you’ll see six proven strategies from successful people.

SEE ALSO: Why one of Silicon Valley's top investors says 'don't follow your passion'

1. Use Your Free Time

Legend has it that Bill Gates went to work in his garage and all of a sudden, Microsoft was born. But it’s more complicated than that.

Gates was an exceptional math student growing up. When he was 13 years old, his school had a PDP 10 computer, which taught people how to code. Gates would go to the computer room during his lunchtime and tinker with the machine until he knew how to program.

There is a lot to learn from Gates’ younger self. He followed his passion and learned a new skill — during his lunch break. Be honest: How many times have you dropped something because you can’t find the time for it? The truth is that if it’s something that you really want to learn, you can make time for it, whether you wake up earlier or work on it during lunch.

Related: 3 Things Successful People Do During Their Lunch Breaks

2. Learn From Your Failures

Former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham is now one of the most successful fashion designers in the world. But it wasn’t an easy journey for her.

Beckham was torn apart by critics after her solo singing career failed. It was in this failure that Beckham realized music wasn’t her passion. That’s when she got into the fashion business and, after initial harsh reviews, ended up excelling in a whole new industry.

Had Beckham’s solo singing career taken off, she might’ve never become a fashion designer. Sometimes failure can push you toward another interest altogether. So, when something doesn’t work out—don’t dwell on it for too long. Instead, think about turning your Plan B into your Plan A. If you’re anything like Posh Spice, it’ll work out pretty well.

3. Study the Best

Among other accomplishments, songwriter Randy Bachman’s a member of the band Bachman-Turner Overdrive, known for hits like “Takin’ Care of Business” and “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet.”

A few years back, Bachman wrote a letter to young musicians on how to learn songwriting. His secret: “Studying the greats.” He would not only look for similarities between popular songs, but also write a sequel to hit songs just for practice.

If you feel like you’ve hit a plateau, analyze what the best in the industry are doing. By looking for patterns and things you can emulate, you’ll be able to break through and keep developing your skills.

Before the internet, in the 80s and 90s, engineers who wanted to pick up a new skill usually turned to O'Reilly's famous color-coded "Animal Books."

O' Reilly’s books cover hundreds of technologies from Python to Oracle. Every title famously has an engraved picture of an animal on its cover. But now that the internet has put most technical information a Google search away, O'Reilly books are no longer the first place young programmers turn.

The animal pictures have certainly made an impact on the next generation of programmers, however, and after originator and programmer Ben Halpern created an online generator, forums have sprouted up to post parodies of O'Reilly's famous animal books.

Here are some of our favorites: 

The best programmers aren't lazy — they're debugging their code on the weekend

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Nothing says lazy Sunday like combing through stack traces pic.twitter.com/0Dfp6j2Hdh

When a warning isn't really a warning:

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https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/725769766603001856
Chapter 8: Onboarding new devs to also ignore the warnings. pic.twitter.com/HUpKj1u2HQ

Don't worry, it will be back soon with bug reports.

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If you love your code, you set it free. pic.twitter.com/fdFpDYOS7r

On a quiet, tree-lined block on the Upper East Side, 740 Park Avenue rises up: a legendary address, at one time considered (and, perhaps, still) the most important residential building in New York City.

The Art Deco co-op has been home to many of New York's most notable figures since it opened its doors in the 1930s. Today, it's still filled with the city's wealthiest residents — and prices just keep going up. The average listing price per square foot is currently $3,666.

Built in 1929 by the grandfather of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis — who lived there as a child — 740 Park has just 31 residences, but they've commanded some of the highest real estate prices in New York history. John D. Rockefeller, financier Saul Steinberg, and Blackstone founder Steve Schwarzman have all hung their hats in the building. In fact, they've all lived in the very same apartment.

While some of New York's richest have decided to invest in the shiny new luxury condos available on "Billionaire's Row" on 57th Street or in downtown Tribeca's glossy high-rises, the Upper East Side still holds its own, according to Michael Gross, the author of "House of Outrageous Fortune" about 15 Central Park West and "740 Park: The Story of the World's Richest Apartment Building."

"I think in the current condo era, [740 Park] represents a previous generation of Manhattan wealth," Gross told Business Insider. "But I think that the cyclical nature of real estate makes it a very good bet that co-ops will have a comeback, and the east side will have a comeback."

There are currently four units with active listings in the building. If you buy in — and get past the co-op board — you'll have some very wealthy neighbors. Below, a roundup of those famous names.

Julie Zeveloff wrote an earlier version of this story.

SEE ALSO: These copper-clad luxury apartment buildings — complete with an amenity-filled skybridge — will gradually turn green over time

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740 Park opened its doors in October 1930, in the heart of the Great Depression. It remained a "financial sinkhole" until the 1980s, when apartment prices rose astronomically.

Source: "740 Park: The Story Of The World's Richest Apartment Building" by Michael Gross

These days, only the wealthiest types are even considered for admission to the co-op. Applicants must be able to show a liquid net worth of at least $100 million.

Source: "740 Park: The Story Of The World's Richest Apartment Building" by Michael Gross

But wealth isn't the only factor. Barbra Streisand, Neil Sedaka, junk bond tycoon Nelson Peltz, and the billionaire Leo Blavatnik have all reportedly been rejected by the co-op board.

Source: "740 Park: The Story Of The World's Richest Apartment Building" by Michael Gross