With less than a week until Christmas, not to mention the normal rush and anxiety of the holidays, why not give the gift of laughter? Or suspense, or mystery, or even endless sobbing? With the gift of a Netflix membership - for someone or yourself - they can choose their preferred genre of entertainment.

I have been a subscriber of Netflix for over a year and my lovely wife and I watch as many TV shows as we do movies. We are big fans of Prison Break on Fox but don't have (or want) TiVo, so we selected the first 2 seasons, and are now caught up of the episodes we missed. With everything from movies to documentaries to kid shows, it's the perfect gift. And choosing and maintaining your queue of selections is half of the fun.

As I have written about before, Netflix is also offering selections of movies to be streamed over the Internet. I have tested this on a PC hooked up to my PC and the clarity and quality was excellent. The ability to stream movies is included with your membership - more information is available on the Netflix Web site.

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At the tail end of the dot-com boom I talked with a friend who just got laid off from his job. He was distraught, and concerned about finding another job. Having gone through this myself earlier in the year, he asked for my advice on how to approach being without work. My answer was not what he expected. I told him to take advantage of this time – sure he was unemployed, but he had a block of time to take care of things or do thing he otherwise wouldn’t. Sure, he should be looking for work, but my managing the time and not letting it manage you, balance can be achieved.

Several weeks after our conversation I talked with him and asked him how things were going. He told me that he did not have a job yet, but that he took my advice… and went to Vegas! Shortly after we talked he was gainfully employed again, hopefully paying for whatever memories stayed on his trip.

I recalled this story as I sat down to write my first blog post in almost a week, the longest period I have gone without writing anything. I even missed Wordless Wednesday last week! Though it would be nice to say I went to Las Vegas that did not happen, instead a cornucopia of tasks and events that kept me busy, productive and feeling both capitalistic and philanthropic, but nonetheless kept me away from blogging.

Where many times I talk about how things only happen when you schedule them, this is only half the battle. One must also be accountable to that schedule. When it is just you, it is easy to let things slip or other things take priority. The mere fact that something got done ends up being the justification, even if whatever was done was not at the top of the list.

There are many ways to be more accountable. Software can track your time, running in the background as you are doing whatever on your computer. Friends, colleagues and even family can review your tasks and schedules to make sure everything is on track. But in the end it is up to you, and there’s no time like the present to start down the track of accountability.

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I saw a brief Associated Press article on Crain’s Chicago Business’ RSS feed last night that spoke volumes to me. It was about the upcoming sale of the Chicago Cubs by the Tribune Company. As there have been delays in the overall acquisition of the Tribune by billionaire Sam Zell, there have also been delays in the sale of the storied baseball team.

Mark Cuban, the billionaire tech entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, has publicly acknowledged he wants to buy the team and that he has submitted an application to Major League Baseball to do so. There are rumors, and this article states it as well, that other baseball team owners may not want Cuban to be one of them, namely due to his highly energetic and outspoken style as an NBA team owner.

Here’s his response to this query:

"I don't do things just for the sake of doing them. It's a passion project, it makes great business sense for me, there's a lot of leverage there. There's so many business applications, so many technology applications I can do in Chicago. There's a lot of opportunities."

Business applications? Technology applications? Awesome!

Mark Cuban’s investment of money, time – even his attention – to the tech and business community in Chicago would be very much welcome addition. Especially in the tech venue, where attention in the US is mostly directed to the Left Coast of the country, Cuban’s investment in the heartland will go well with the rest of us who have done the same.

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With Hanukkah tomorrow, time is limited to get the best gift to someone on short notice. As just about every store and business takes gift certificates or cards, it may be the best gift anyway, especially for the people who are hard to shop for.

GiftCertificates.com offers a wide selection of gift cards, or you can give a general gift card, called a SuperCertificate, which lets the recipient select their own store or merchant. Gift cards and certificates can be given as a tangible item or sent via email. Check their Web site for complete details.

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The memory of one pop quiz from my high school days still comes to mind on occasion. It was Spanish class of all things, and one day my teacher hands us a list of names. The names were all leaders – everyone from local, state and national government to the real name of Pope John Paul II. Our task was to name who they were. As I was one of the few in my class who cared about the world around me, I got the best score, missing just one question.

Knowledge of our public officials is important in a democratic society. It’s surely better to know who they are and what they stand for before it’s too late and too late usually means when you want something from government and the person you elected is opposed to it. This is why when fresh out of college I subscribed to the local paper, much to the amusement of my fellow co-workers, all recent grads. That was a few moons ago, and today I get my news just as you are reading this – online.

It is also the role of elected officials to let us know who they are. But what if it is unclear? I live in Chicago’s 42nd Ward, and by visiting the City of Chicago’s Web site and fumbling your way through it (a topic for another time), you can find out the Alderman is Brendan Reilly. Where it is clear there, it is not on his own Web site, especially when you compare it to the one of the former Alderman Burton Natarus, a 30-plus year politician whom Reilly defeated earlier this year.

If you compare the Web sites of Reilly and Natarus, who do you think is the real alderman? Both are Web sites paid for by their campaigns, which is very clear on both sites. That unfortunately is the only thing that is clear. Take a look at both sires and tell me who you think it is! Apparently there is no campaign law about keeping an outdated Web site in place, however the onus would be on the current Alderman to ensure his Web site is even clearer to all who visit. A picture of himself would be nice too.

Maybe Alderman Reilly can buy the Web site from former Alderman Natarus and change a few images? It would be a nice start and a notable improvement. And it would surely help kids in the 42nd Ward with any pop quizzes.

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