The cultural and economic capital of the Midwest United States, Chicago is rich with historical, culinary and arts attractions that make the city a can’t-miss for travelers. The city has famously frigid winters and high winds, so plan your trip for spring, summer or fall to best take advantage of walking, shopping and views of Lake Michigan, the only Great Lake located entirely within America.

Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, located adjacent to the downtown financial area, is a blend of high-end shopping, historic landmarks, skyscrapers, restaurants and hotels. Book a room at the Hotel Drake, located at the start of the Mile, to stay in luxury in the heart of Chicago. The Drake offers afternoon teatime to help you unwind at the end of a busy day and a speakeasy-style bar that can help you get a taste for the Prohibition Era. Enjoy amenities of both modern living, including high-speed Internet and 1920s luxury in its well-appointed guest rooms and common areas. Leave plenty of time to experience other famous Chicago attractions. There are all kind of unique activities to fill your days, whether you’re enjoying a romantic getaway, luxury vacation or budget family trip.

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You look across the other side of your office cubicle and he or she is pretty attractive and single to boot.

So, should you show some interest in them or keep romance out of the equation?

According to a recent study through employee benefits provider Workplace Options, 84 percent of those workers aged 18 to 29 indicate they would date a co-worker, while 71 percent report they believe workplace romance is a positive thing that betters both office performance and morale.

A spokesperson for the company noted that, “The first thing that pops up is the difference in attitude between the generations. The millennials are looking at this through rose-colored glasses. Workplace relationships can have a negative effect if they aren’t managed well.”

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A Digital Camera Photographed with a Film Camera (Photo credit: Arty Smokes (deaf mute))

So the other day I received a text from a friend asking me what my perfect job would be, well this got me thinking and after I while I still wasn’t sure, but then it hit me!

What Would Your Perfect Job Be?

I pondered on the many aspects of what I do now, ok blogging does take up a lot of my time and it does fit in nicely with my daytime work, but then I got on to thinking about my blogging and what I enjoy blogging about.

The answer was movies! No surprise there really, as a lot of you know that read Blazing Minds, I do a lot of movie reviews and this is all thanks to the amazing staff at @ApolloCinemas Rhyl and movies have always been my passion.

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img source: http://www.lorinbellerblake.com

People around the world make New Year’s resolutions. Unfortunately, because February is here, it means many of those resolutions are probably kaput. The feeling of a New Year can inspire ambition—which is fantastic. But if the luster of a blank calendar is the only thing making someone proactive, then her/his resolutions will go flat faster than the champagne. One doesn’t need to make big gestures to improve. Follow these suggestions for the New Year’s resolutions that get over looked, but need to be made for the sake of humanity or, ya know, just so we don’t turn into jerks.

Phone Etiquette

Text messaging has completely revolutionized they way we communicate. It’s a wonderful way to send information without interrupting someone or ask a question that isn’t pressing. Texting is perfect for exchanges like “I got home safe,” “I’ll be there around six,” or “What’s the name of that magazine?” The point is that it doesn’t interrupt people’s day. Unfortunately, texting has done the opposite. When you are eating lunch with someone, do not text. When you are at a party, if you need to text, go into a different room. When you reach for your phone, you trigger other people’s desire for texting as well, so now you’ve got a party full of texters. And when you text repeatedly you are telling those around you that you’d rather be somewhere else. If you want to have a conversation with someone call them or better yet, send them a text … and meet in person.

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Christmas is a great time of year, and one that most people really love. It’s a time of festivity, merryment, present giving, seeing the family and generally giving thanks for everything you have. But whilst nearly everyone gathers at a relatives’ house too see the family, there is actually a huge market in Christmas holidays. It may seem like a slightly odd time of the year to take a holiday, but why stress about family issues, cooking etc. when you can have it all done for you? With the global age we live in today there is easy access to holidays all over the world, so it’s quite simple to move your Christmas to a different location, or even abroad!

With more and more people looking into international breaks, skiing holidays and other non-traditional Christmas breaks, where are the most popular places to go? This great infographic from HotelshopUK counts down the top 10 of this year, and there’s still time to go on one yourself! Christmas on Safari in Africa anyone?

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If you’ve ever ordered a large new electronic item (or any particularly bulky item for that matter), you may well have been offered ‘white glove delivery’ or ‘2 man delivery‘ during checkout. For many of us, this term is a bit of a mystery, as we’re not entirely sure it refers to – what’s the difference between normal delivery and white glove delivery?

Well now you can avoid all the confusion with this handy infographic from the Panther Group (http://www.panthergroup.co.uk); What Is White Glove Delivery?

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FourSquare is one of those sites that people to love or hate and even though some may think it’s a complete waste of time, think again!

I first started using FourSquare when I saw some fellow friends on twitter mentioning where they were, so I stopped by, signed up and didn’t do much about it after that.

Some time later when I got my BlackBerry Curve I started delving in to FourSquare a bit more often and even though the Curve 8520 doesn’t have GPS, FourSquare still tries to find locations via cell towers.

Grabbing A Special Via FourSquare

One thing that I did start noticing after a while were there seemed to be a lot more “specials” appearing at some of the places that I was visiting, some for being the mayor and others for the amount of times you have visited.

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