Pricing of "The Same Thing"

Wow, a post that's not focused on Sophia!

This post may be something that my B-school friends can help me understand....

We were in Target yesterday getting various sundries and I went to grab some toothpaste. Lately, I've been picking up this Crest toothpaste with Scope. Not because I think it cleans my teeth any better, but simply because it tastes better. In my hunt to find that specific tube, I realized that there was a really wide variation in pricing even amongst the same brand.

I'm not talking about a different "kind" of toothpaste, I'm talking about the same paste that's in a tube. There's that gel stuff which comes in a little clear plastic container which stands up on its own. But I'm talking about the basic toothpaste.

So here's what I noticed...the really basic "no name" Crest & Colgate cost much less than all the other stuff. That's not surprising since those basic types have been around forever. But what about all those variations of whitening and mouthwash/minty fresh types? I figured they'd cost a bit more than the plain jane stuff, but all basically be in the same range.

But it turns out they all cost different amounts. The Crest with Scope costs a dollar more than Crest minty whitening stuff which looks and tastes almost the same. Why is that?

A dollar isn't really all that much in the grand scheme of things, but think of it this way...the Crest with Scope costs 33% more than Crest Whitening and 100% more than the plain-jane Crest!

Looking at it that way, I realized I didn't care enough about the Scope-i-ness so I just picked up the minty whitening version and I'm perfectly happy with that. I'd rather spend that buck on fries or coffee.

So B-school peeps...please explain to me how American consumers are put into this position? I doubt most people even realize there's this huge range in pricing for something as simple as toothpaste. I have my own thoughts and it pretty much revolves about marketing, shiny/new packaging, and general failure on the consumer's part to check prices, but man, what a surprise to see this wide range.

This is HER time

One other thing I completely forgot to mention in my post yesterday was something that has NEVER come to my mind before last night. Barack Obama had his 30 minute ad on many channels last night and I was sure to watch it. Afterwards, I updated my status on Facebook to the following:

Jigar is so glad he watched Obama's ad..... it brought chills to my spine.... THIS is our time.... THIS is MY PRESIDENT.

Well, I kept it simple in my status, but there was a much bigger reason I just HAD to post on facebook about that...

In addition to bringing chills to my spine, last night Obama brought mist to my eyes. Not because of what he means to me, but because of what he means to Sophia. There are, of course, many inspirational leaders, none more inspiring than Gandhi. And I appreciate what they have to say about improving the future. But last night was the first time that upon hearing such a leader, I looked the future in the eyes....

And she smiled back at me.


:)

The last time I felt anything like this kind of inspiration from a leader was when Bill Clinton stood for the future. At the time, as a college student, it was obvious to me that the guy was exactly what we needed. It was a very personal thing and it brought about a huge sense of pride.

Well, Obama has provided much of the same type of pride & inspiration and I just can't tell you how much this man needs to be our president. However, while watching his ad, in all its sappiness, I just couldn't help looking down at Sophia in her swing.

And for the absolute first time in my life, I connected the dots between the hazy idea of "THE FUTURE" and the clear brown eyes of my daughter. The future, in my mind, has always been about improving my life or our lives.

But never has it been about HER life.

I realized that this moment is not mine. It's not our's. It's HER'S.

6 months

Wow...it's my sweetheart's half-birthday today and what a half-year it has been. I've actually been thinking about this post for a few days now...not so much about the exact words which I would write, but more thinking about all the wonderful things we've seen in her short life.

I still remember the tears that came to my eyes as the doctor cut her umbilical cord. I haven't cried so many happy tears since...I don't know when.

They say men don't cry or they don't this or that, but just to clarify...DADs are exempt from all that. Whether it's making silly faces and sounds since they make Sophia laugh, or waddling along and singing with her in her baby carrier, Sophia's makes all our inhibitions disappear.

And sometimes, I just have to stop and watch. I know Radha does the same thing. We'll just watch her. There's the joy that she's our daughter and that we're her parents. But there's the amazement at what she's doing and discovering. Lately, we've both caught her just staring at her hands or feet and flexing her fingers and toes. Looking at her face, it's clear that she's doing something as ordinary as practicing her movements. But moreover, she's discovering more and more of her world. Those brain cells of hers are putting two and two together and realizing that she can indeed control her fingers and reach for her toys (or Junior's ears).

The interections with the dogs are one of the latest things we love to watch and encourage. When Junior will allow it, we'll sit Sophia on Junior's back and just let her play with his fur and grab his ears. When Buddy's calm enough, we'll let him sniff and give light licks to Sophia's fingers and cheeks.

And while everyday life and the stresses that come with it take their toll, all of that fades into nothingness when Sophia's in my arms. It's the most amazing thing and these are the moments I hope to remember and cherish forever.

Happy Half Birthday Bachu!

In a Blink

An unbelievable 3 months have passed since I last wrote about life and I must say, it's well past time to get back on here. When I last wrote, Sophia was still a tiny thing and didn't really react much to us or the things around her. She just needed to be loved. In the 3+ months since then, Sophia has changed and grown so much.

Yet, Radha and I still pause every once in a while in amazement at our daughter. Yes, we're parents. Yes, we still smile ear to ear when we think about it.


While I can't speak for Radha, some of the things I'll always remember about these first 4+ months of Sophia's life aren't singular events. They aren't one time things. They're things which are now daily parts of our lives.

Perhaps my favorite part of the day is the first moment of Sophia's day. When she wakes up and is blinking away her dreams. We'll be sitting there waiting for her to see us. We'll be sitting there waiting for her sweet smile. We'll be sitting there waiting to wish her a good morning and a brand new welcome to her world.

One of the daily rituals which I just love and look forward to are Sophia's baths. As many of our friend know, rather than bathe Sophia in a baby tub, I just take her into the shower with me and hold her in my arms while I soap her up and rinse her down. These showers started when she had a cold and needed the steam to help clear her breathing. And from there, it's been something we've done everyday. For me, it's the one time during the day when it's just daddy and daughter. And every time I step into the shower with her, I've come to appreciate the moment for what it is. I don't know how much longer I'll be able to do this with her. She'll get bigger and squirm around more than would be safe. And maybe her mommy will want to give her a bath too :) In the meantime, I baby talk to her and sing to her during the few minutes of the day when it's just me and her. And I love it!

For every week that passes, there's something else which leads us to proclaim that Sophia is a big girl. Just in the past week, she's started eating solid food. She loves the rice cereal she's getting and gobbles it up like there's no tomorrow. The week before that, she found her feet and decided she likes how they taste.

Each of these things were a "first" and we couldn't help but talk about them. But they've now become commonplace things for us. If nothing else, this blog post will help us remember these moments many years from now.

I'll end this post with some thoughts for the future...we're in Singapore right now visiting Radha's family. While her family has seen her grow so much in just 2 weeks here, they won't be seeing Sophia again for quite some time. I can't imagine the changes and the progress that we will experience with Sophia before we see Radha's family again. It's something I look forward to and it's something I hope to track over time.

Back, But Not the Same

I'm back to work today...sort of getting back to normal life. Not surprisingly, things are so different. Priorities have shifted. My daily schedule & routine have changed. And I'm not sure what more will change in the coming days & weeks.

As I expected, my daily life has changed quite a bit. I know it'll change a lot more now that I'm back to work and eventually when my parents and Radha's parents go back to their regular lives. Having them around to help and enjoy with the little one has allowed us to be sort of in la-la land where we haven't had to cook & clean and keep an eye on Sophia 24 hrs a day. Now, step by step, we'll find out what it really means to be parents.

So the most interesting thing I've noticed with this whole parenthood thing is how my mental state has really changed in regards to loved ones. Well, let's not say that's it's changed...it's just become more evident and obvious. I'm finding that I think so much more about the value of my loved ones and what a devastation it would be if they were not in my life.

And it manifests itself in really odd ways. Typical example: I finally watched "I Am Legend" If you haven't seen it, Will Smith plays the "last" guy on earth after a man-made virus hits the earth. He's got his dog with him as his only companion. Anyone that knows me knows that I'm a dog lover through and through. And while watching "I Am Legend" I found myself caring more about the german shepherd than I cared about Will Smith. The dog ran into a dark warehouse and all I could think about was how heartbreaking it would be when (not if) the dog got hurt or died. The obvious next thought was about my dogs.

And when it's late at night, I can't help but look over at my sleeping daughter & wife and what they mean to me. This little one is so new to this world, but has already become such a huge part of our lives. And Radha is now, not just my wife, but a wonderful mother who does everything in her power to ensure for Sophia's well being. It's only in those moments that I realize things will never be the same again.

Nor do I want them to be.

Wake Up!

Sophia is now 12 days old and man have the hours and days flown by. Each day comes to an end before we even realize it. The biggest thing to note is the sleep (and lack there of)

Not surprisingly, we're getting a lot less sleep than we used to. Apparently I look a LOT more tired than I feel, but given that I'm only sleeping about 4 hours a night, I'm sure this will catch up with me soon. I'm not a daytime napper, so I haven't been able to take time out during the day and just go to sleep. I've had lots of opportunity to do that since we have lots of help at home, but when I've tried to nap, I just lay there wondering when I'll finally fall asleep.

So for now, I try to get other things done and help out Radha as much as possible. There have been several occasions though where I'll just fall asleep while sitting in bed.

But, like I said, it's nothing unexpected.

The somewhat unexpected part has been just how much this little one LOVES to sleep! We've got 2 dogs, grandmothers blending and cooking away, gardeners with lawnmowers, Laker games, etc, etc...you name it, and this girl just seems to sleep right through it all. We've been trying to get her on a more manageable sleep pattern where she's up more in the day time rather than night time, but we can't seem to wake her up! We've taken off her socks, put wet washcloths on her feet, tickled her (all recommended by our pediatrician, BTW), but when this girl wants to sleep, there's nothing getting in the way of her and a few ZZZZ's

Oh well, I guess it's just a small thing in the grand scheme of things. It's still a wonder and joy to be a father and I'm just taking it all in and trying to lock each moment away in a corner of my brain.

Memories

I was going to start this post talking about "firsts" that I'll always remember...I fed my daughter for the first time yesterday...I noticed she has brownish eyes like her mother...I watched as two grandmothers played with their little bundle of joy...we took our sweetheart out for her first stroller ride to the doctor. Not surprisingly, most of these moments would just pass by if we didn't pause to cherish them.
And pausing is what allowed me to realize that these are all memories. Things are moving so quickly, it's hard to comprehend that just 5 mornings ago I wasn't a father. But it's just as crazy to think that we've had 5 days of "firsts" and 5 days of memories made.

I already feel like a pro at diaper changing, swaddling, and rocking the baby to sleep. And as I stop to think about it, I just find it amazing that we've stepped into this role and everyday in our lives will be changed in little ways and big ways.

Junior & Buddy & Baby make 3

One of the common questions we've been getting now that the baby's home is how we're handling the dogs. Most people don't have two golden retrievers at home to welcome home baby so it's not surprising. And considering most Indians don't have dogs period, Radha and I have been expecting questions on this matter.

Safe to say, it's been pretty much what we thought it would be. Our guys have been alternately curious or disinterested or even a bit depressed.

Before we brought the baby home, I actually brought her first hat home for the dogs to smell. They immediately smelled something new and sniffed down the hat as well as my jeans.

When we brought the baby home, I think getting a feel for the smell in advance helped since they didn't go crazy like they sometimes do when we've been away from the house for more than a day. Since then, the guys have tended to come over to see what's going on with the baby, but then walk away after getting a couple of sniffs. When she's sleeping in the bassinet, they immediately come over and get a couple of sniffs but then they go chill out in their usual spots.

The only wierd thing happened this morning when Buddy (the younger, more playful dog) came into the room when the baby was crying like mad as we changed her clothes. All of a sudden Buddy gave a really concerned whine/growl which is something he usually only does when he sees something he wants to check out more closely (like a squirrel or bird). And that was it. Back to normal.

Not to say we're unconcerned. Even the best trained dogs can do things unexpectedly and wreak havoc. So we're watching them closely and making sure they still get their usual dose of love and know that they're still very much a part of our family.

Cluster F*ing

One of the first things I realized as we traversed down the journey towards parenthood is that the details of reality are quite different than the generalities I've heard.

An example during pregnancy is the amount that the baby moves while inside mommy's tummy. I thought it would be some movement which could be seen, but our baby was like an alien! After about the 6th month, we could make out specific body parts as the baby was moving inside mommy. Crazy!

So what does this have to do with Cluster F*ing?

Well, I'm talking about Cluster Feeding. Even when we took baby care classes, we never heard about this, and man, is it exhausting! They say that a newborn will need to eat very frequently and new parents just can't get enough rest. That is definitely true, but we never knew about what the nurses call cluster feeding where the baby just needs to eat constantly for hours on end. We're talking about non-stop suckling...take the baby away from her food and she immediately starts crying.

After a while, we got a bit worried since nothing seemed to console this child. But after the nurse explained this all to us, we just had to deal with it despite the fact that both of us were falling asleep while sitting on the bed watching the baby feed.

Anyways, we're back home today and getting settled into the lives of new parents. The hours are just a blur right now, but every moment that we get to spend with our child makes up for any of the stress and exhaustion.

Flying

They say your life changes once you have a child. Obviously, that's true, but so far, things are a little bit different than I had imagined the first day as a father....

Of course we're tired...getting only a few hours of sleep ensures that every new parent will be tired. But this first day hasn't been the mind-numbing day I thought it would be. I thought we'd be worrying about Sophia every moment whether we're awake or napping, but that hasn't been the case. As it turns out, newborns tend to sleep a lot in their first few days. We've certainly been keeping our eyes and minds on her all day, but we realized that we could talk, laugh, and even have visitors without too much trouble. The nurses here at Lucile Packard also make life so much easier. Besides great tips and advice, they also do their best to make the day as easy as possible for us. Whether it be monitoring Sophia to allow us 3 hours of sleep or changing her diapers for us while we relax a bit, they've made this first day oh so much better than expected.

The days ahead will be very different, I'm sure. We're going home tomorrow morning. No more nurses. Two dogs. And most significantly, two sets of grandparents! More on that as we get there.

In the meantime, I can't believe how fast time is already flying. I've got a 1 day old!

Finally!

And so it's finally happened! I'm a daddy!

At 5:28pm PT today, the emotions pent up for so long just burst out as I saw my daughter come into this world. I saw how hard my wife had worked to give birth. I saw the doctor looking her over and cutting the umbilical cord, making my daughter a separate being. And the emtions just couldn't be held back longer. I found myself crying at this beautiful sight. I leaned over and hugged my wife and told her to look over at our daughter.

10 fingers. 10 toes. A full head of hair. And inquisitive eyes that looked us over, surely trying to match the new faces with the familiar voices which she had heard from inside the womb. As any parent would say, our child is perfect in every way :)

And so it goes. We're parents now. It's still sinking in, but we can't wait to discover what it means to be parents and to be responsible for our little one.

Counting Up

For nine months now, we've been counting *down*, but for the last 12 hours, we've been counting *up*. We came into the hospital last night around 12:30 for our appointment to induce labor. With the baby being one week overdue, we had scheduled a time to being the labor process.

It took a while to get checked in...we only got to our labor/delivery room at 1am. And after all of the questions and checks, it was closer to 2am. The good thing is Radha was already more than in the morning. So we skipped the drug meant to soften up the cervix and went right to the one which induces contractions. Even so, it was 3:45am before Radha was given the IV drip with the drugs.

We both got a couple of hours of much needed sleep and started the morning off bright and early at 6:30 with more checks. Things proceeded quite quickly from there. Before we knew it, the anesthesiologists came in for the epidural and Radha was 6cm dilated.

So we've now been in the hospital for 12 1/2 hours slowly counting up. The goal is 10cm dilated and then Radha can start pushing.

For the first time in a while, I'm actually feeling a bit nervous. So is Radha. We've been anxious for quite some time, especially since the due date was a week ago. But only as this "count up" is getting more intense are we getting nervous. I'm sure it's something every first time parent goes through. In my fitful sleep, of all things, I dreamt about the baby's first encounter with our dogs, Junior & Buddy. Strange how anxiousness about being good parents isn't coming to the fore. I think I dreamt about the dogs since the nurse told us about a good way to get them acclimated to the baby's smell. After the birth, I'll be taking the baby's newborn cap home and let the boy's sniff to their heart's content. I'm really looking forward to being a big family.

In the meantime, I'm still counting up.

Ready

I've been meaning to write for a long time. Not surprisingly, I put other things ahead of posting to this blog. But now I'm ready...


I'm sitting here in my office waiting to go to hospital with my wife. After nine months, neither of us want to wait any longer to finally welcome our baby into this world. I plan to post words and photos much more frequently now and this is just the start of a new stage in our lives that I'll be doing my best to document.

Some of the things I'm looking forward to...

Firsts...
- Seeing my wife smile at our child for the first time
- Holding my baby in my arms for the first time
- Having my baby sleep on my chest for the first time
- Pausing and taking it all in for the first time

And so here's I'm pausing as the last year has flown by us. It's been a long year and we can't wait for what lies ahead.

On the Lot

Sometimes I'm glad I check out random shows on TV. I started following the latest reality show called On The Lot. This show pits a bunch of wanna-be film directors against each other for the opportunity to make a movie with Steven Speilberg.

I had been planning to write this post for a few days, but I only now figured out what I want to write about it. So what do I like about the show?

The contestants seem to be obsessed not with being personalities and beating everyone else, but they're obsessed with showing their talent and winning on their merits. There are a lot of reality shows out there which purport to put people against each other and find te winner best suited to the job. Shows like The Apprentice are supposed to be about finding the best business talent, but in the end, that show is just about Trump, his personality, his personality, his personality, and the cattiness of all the contestants.

People may have a lot of bad things to say about American Idol, but I think the reason the show is so popular is because people like to see everyone trying their darnedest to show their talent and win on their merits. Granted, with that show talent comes down to basic pop, but all the same, the show isn't about pitting people against each other, it's about talent.

On The Lot is very similar in that sense. These budding film makers don't spend much time talking about themselves. They talk about their films and the challenges or cool things they faced while making them. What's more, every contestant obviously has some level of talent they bring to the table, so while you may not like the contestant's submission, you've gotta admit they know a little bit about film making.

A couple of things to note...even though I don't watch too many movies, I've found that I really like the concept and process of film making (discovered while zoned out in front of Final Cut). And this type of contest is right up my alley.

Another thing to note? There's a Indian-American girl on the show and she actually seems to try at making a statement. Her submission tonight was a mockumentary about a South Asian Gay comic. Regardless of the subject, it was definitely very different than the other submissions. Her previous week's submission wasn't all that great, but the fact that she made a little bit risky film is pretty cool. Check out her film right here:
http://www.thelot.com/episodes/?ep=6&vd=66

This week's show just passed but if you want to check out the submissions, you can still check them all out here:
http://www.thelot.com/episodes/

Saving the day with Customer Service

I came to the Infiniti dealership this morning for the first regular service on our G35. I am usually wary of taking our cars to the dealership since they always seem to overcharge for basic things and make you feel guilty for not getting every recommended bit of work done on the car.

From the beginning with our G35 though, the Infiniti dealer has made me feel a lot better about bringing the car in here.

First of all, their prices are not through the roof. That, in the end, is the biggest thing. I don't need to pay a million dollars for an oil change no matter how expert the service techs are. Secondly, they have found some ways to make life a lot simpler. They actually called me about setting up my appointment. Granted, that was just a way for them to get more business from me, but if I'm already okay with bringing in the car, having them give me a call to quickly set up an appointment (less than 5 mins from beginning to end) is that much better.

So I brought my car in and when checking in at reception, I realized that they didn't have me in their list of service appointments for today. I say "realized" because they tried their hardest to not let on about that. I'm guessing that the appointment I made via Infiniti customer service somehow didn't end up making its way into the local dealership's schedule. I'm not sure of that, but I'm guessing that's the case since the receptionist asked if my appt could be under any other name.

But upon (probably) not finding my name in the schedule, the receptionist just proceeded to get my info in and act as if everything was completely normal. And within 2 mins, the specific service agent talked me through everything they would be doing and if there was anything else I wanted checked out. He even noticed a couple of things which I was about to mention to him.

And my ETA? About an hour.

Very different from my previous experiences with luxury car dealers that always seemed to make it different. To expensive. Too much hassle. Just too much of a pain to deal with.

Granted, I brought my car in for some really simple stuff, but it's encouraging that I'm able to blog about my good experience while I'm actually at the dealer (free wi-fi!)