MJ Hall of Fame Induction Speech…What’s all the fuss about?

The other day I recalled all the media hype and criticism of Jordan’s speech – saying that he is a “bitter old man” and still holds “grudges”.  So I got curious and of course googled and watched the speech.  I know I grew up in Chicago and basically worshipped MJ as all Chicagoans did…so I understand I’m biased.  But that said, I really don’t understand what all the fuss is about?  I did not have any major issues with MJ’s speech.  There was one moment where you could tell he was still pissed with Jerry Kraus and made a bad joke, but he also made a point about how “people win games” and not “organizations” – and I think that was his main message – that business people in the game need to treat the players with the utmost respect since they are the ones that go out and perform.  As for all the other stuff in his speech… he made a lot of points about how he was motivated by different people in his life (“logs on the fire”) - and some of those people motivated him because they did not initially believe in him.  This is classic MJ… any fan knows this.  This is what gets this guy going… proving people wrong.  And if that’s what it took him to be the best player in the world… then I say so be it!  I don’t think MJ is perfect… far from it.  But I don’t think this speech should have caused the media circus and firestorm that it did.  Overall it was a good speech and he thanked people in his life up and down.  Some of my most memorable moments as a kid growing up was watching the Bulls with my buddies… thanks for the memories MJ.

See the speech for yourself and tell me what you think:  http://www.nba.com/video/teams/bulls/2009/09/11/nba_20090911_hof_jordan_speech_chi.nba/

My Hybrid Experience

To my surprise my recent Avis rental was a blue Toyota Prius.  This was actually the first time I’d driven a hybrid vehicle and I must say it was pretty cool.  A few things really stand out about the Prius:

1. When you start the car, it literally make no noise when you are idling.  Pretty weird at first b/c you feel like you did not start the car. 

2. Prius has a really nice, roughly 9 inch touchscreen display for audio, climate and other info.  The “other info” part is pretty cool — it shows you a visual animation of the car, its 4 wheels, electric motor, battery and piston engine.  And arrows move among these parts showing whether the electric motor is on, piston engine is doing its thing, and if the wheels are moving.  It also shows whether power is being consumed by the battery or given back to the battery.  Power is given back to the battery when breaking or coasting. 

3. My average gas mileage so far is reading 42 miles/gallon of gas.  However, I suspect it is actually much higher.  I’ve heard of some ”Prius freaks” getting 100 miles/gallon by driving in certain controlled ways. 

My next car will probably be a standard hybrid or plug-in hybrid.  Only wish they could improve the battery life and reduce the replacement cost.  Rumor is that the lithium ion battery pack will last about 10 years, is very expensive to replace and degrades over time (much like a laptop battery does as cycles of charge and discharge increase).  Of course the world does not “really” know yet, since hybrids have only been around for about a decade now.  This sort of reminds me about people who say after 50 years of using a mobile phone up to your ear you will get brian cancer (we won’t really know until about another 35 years!). 

Guess we will all find out soon enough … about hybrid batteries and the brain cancer that is.  Peace.

My Best Sister-in-Laws Wedding

On June 5th, 2010 my sister-in-law Kavi and her main-man Raj tied the knot.  It was a beautiful wedding and brought back many memories for me of when Devi and I were married almost 8 years ago on August 24, 2002.  Below is a link to a little video they put together to summarize the sangeet/wedding/reception: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wy9JYSdulc

Also, you must check out the “Raas Instructional Video” that was put together by Raj’s brother Neil and Raj’s close friends.  It is one of the funniest things I have ever seen…these guys should audition for SNL.  Enjoy and congratulations Kavi and Raj… we love you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oYZMBOGiTU&NR=1&feature=fvwp

PS> A little factoid worth repeating here.  Devi is from A.P. and speaks Telugu and I’m a Guju.  Kavi also married a Guju.  What can I say…the “TeluGuju” connection is strong!  Devi’s cousin is also marrying a Guju in September.  These Kuchipuidi’s can’t get enough of us man!   As Kesha would say: “Our love is their drug”.