So I went to In-N-Out Burger (my fav by the way) the other day with my dad and ordered 2 veggie burgers, fries, and a glass of lemonade. The total bill ~ $10. Had I have been alive in 1948, that same meal at the same exact place could have been had for a grand total of 75 cents. So how and why do prices for the same exact stuff rise by so much? That’s due to inflation which is increase in the prices of a lot of the goods and services we buy everyday. A dollar less than a century ago could buy much more than it does today and that will likely continue in the future.
But why does this happen? Well just imagine what it would be like if we had the opposite of that and that is deflation. If the prices of goods and services fell every year instead of rising, you’d wait to buy whatever you were in the market to buy because its profitable (for you) to wait. You’ll be able to buy the same stuff cheaper tomorrow or next month or next year than today. So it’s great for you but if everyone started doing this, the overall demand for stuff in the economy will fall. If demand falls, businesses that provide us with those products and services will see their revenues and profits fall. That would then lead them to cut expenses with their biggest expense being people. So people will start losing jobs and no job means no income and no money to spend. So the demand reduces even more and the cycle continues downhill until deflation is countered.
A prime example of what deflation could do to an economy is Japan. Since the bursting of the twin real estate and stock market bubbles in 1989, the economy hasn’t been able to recover. The country is currently stuck in a deflationary spiral ever since where fewer jobs are causing the demand to stagnate with folks delaying the purchase of stuff. Less number of jobs also causes the population to decline because without a job, supporting a family becomes a challenge and hence folks are delaying marriage and having fewer babies. That adds to a further reduction in demand. And when goods are produced at the same rate and the demand is falling, prices drop and the deflationary environment continues.
Something similar occurred in the United States post the stock market crash of 1929 where a lot of people lost a lot of money, banks closed down, and the entire financial system came to a standstill. Businesses started shutting down, laying off workers setting that process of deflation in motion. Spending in the economy just didn’t stop because of people losing jobs but even the fear of losing jobs caused the rest of the people to shut their wallet tight, further reducing demand. That’s what John Maynard Keynes described as the Paradox of Thrift where it’s great in the long run if people saved money but if they do it all at once, things can get real bad real fast.
So now we know why we don’t want deflation but what about inflation? Prices of goods and services rise over time but why? That’s because inflation in an economy is sort of intentional and is designed in by the central bank of a country (the Federal Reserve for example in the U.S.). The central bank of a country controls the money supply in such a way that there is always a little more money in the system chasing the same quantity of goods and services in an economy. What does that do? It causes prices to rise by just enough so that demand for stuff in an economy is always present. And because stuff gets more expensive over time due to inflation, people will not wait to buy what they need for better prices tomorrow or next month or next year. This keeps the businesses busy producing the stuff people need, employees employed and economy stable.
So now that we know that inflation is going to be ever present, how do we make sure that it doesn’t hurt us? I mean how do we keep our purchasing power intact over time so we can buy the same amount or more stuff tomorrow, next month and next year. Inflation rate in the U.S. has historically averaged at around 3% so if we want to make sure that we can buy the same amount or more stuff, we will have to earn more than that over time. Depositing our savings in a bank could be one way but banks don’t usually pay interest more than the rate of inflation. So a better way would be to invest our savings into investments that tend to outpace the rate of inflation over time. And that in theory means owning stakes in businesses that produce the stuff we buy and consume.
For a perfect and well-balanced economy, we don’t want deflation or hyperinflation. Instead, we want something like a goldilocks economy where the prices of goods are not dropping like crazy and not skyrocketing like mad but just right.
Our school got selected to play in the National Orchestra Festival that was held from March 7th to March 10th this year at Albuquerque, New Mexico.
This is the Advanced Orchestra at our middle school that participated in the competition. If you are trying to spot me, I am in the third row.
In order to be able to play at such a high level performing festival, we had to do a lot of work. Last year, our Advanced Orchestra sent an orchestra recording to get accepted for this years National Orchestra Festival. Schools from around the nation sent tapes for this festival but only few got selected. The judges listened to all the recordings and selected 6 middle schools and 16 high schools to compete in the competition. Our group got selected meaning that the Advanced Orchestra this year could perform in the festival. And so the journey starts…
Day 1 – March 7, 2019
I got up at 6:00 am, and soon left for school. All of us still had to go to school and we would depart for the airport once school ended. Before I went to class, I dropped my luggage off in the orchestra room along with everyone else.
This is everyone’s luggage that had to be later loaded onto the two busses.
School that day went by so slowly. The moment the bell rang, all us orchestra kids went to the orchestra room and started loading buses and instruments (violins + violas). (The cellos and basses would be rented in Albuquerque since it would be a big hassle to carry those instruments onto the plane). We left our school at 2:45 and by 4:30 pm, we had arrived at the airport. At the airport, we started unloading busses and we each grabbed our instruments. We then had to cross the street to get inside the actual building. It looked really crazy because there was just 70 of us just crossing the street with our luggage. Once we crossed the street, Mr. Conway, our conductor, gave us our boarding passes.
After we got our boarding passes, we went inside the airport, checked in our luggage, and went through security check. Once that was over, we had free time to ourselves till 7:30. We all had to eat dinner at someplace in the airport before the flight had to board. My friends and I ate at this super duper over priced pizza place. I got the margarita pizza which had tomatoes, cheese, and garlic on it. It tasted pretty good except, like I said, it was overpriced.
Once we ate dinner, we all waited near our gate. Since there were roughly 70 of us, there were not even close to enough seats to fit us all. We all just ended up sitting on the ground and it looked hilarious!
This is all of us playing cards waiting for the plane. I am the one closest to the camera wearing a gray sweatshirt that says Conway in big letters.
At 7:40, we boarded the plane. All the chaperones helped us put our instruments in the overhead bins. By 8 pm, we took off. Once we had reached 10,000 feet, the plane assistants came and gave us drinks and a packet of ritz crackers. The plane ride was only three hours and by 11 pm, we had reached…
We then claimed our baggage from the conveyor belt and got ready to go to the Double Tree Hotel which we would be staying in for the next few days. The hotel was right next to the convention center which is where we would perform and eat (most of the time).
At 12:00 am, we got our room keys for the hotel and went to our room. My friends that were rooming with me were Claris, Chantale, and Sanjana. Our room was on the highest floor of the hotel, the 15th floor. By 12:30, we changed into our PJs, took a shower, and slept.
Day 2 – March 8, 2019
Sanjana, Claris, Chantale, and I got up at 7:30 for we had to be downstairs by 8 am. We took our time and changed and suddenly at 7:40, our hotel phone rang. Our friends screamed through the phone saying where are you? All four of us in the room were so confused. They told us that we had to be down at 7:30! We all panicked, immediately changed our clothes, and ran downstairs. I didn’t even comb my hair or wash my face.
As soon as we reached the hotel lobby, we went outside the hotel with our group and crossed the street to go to the convention center for breakfast. At the convention center, I ate a toast and some potatoes.
After breakfast at 9 am, we went to a hall in the convention center. There, we listened to three other middle schools perform. The first and third groups we listened to were not really good. The second group was pretty good and I am sure they got a lot of good comments from the adjudicators.
At 12 pm, we went to the other side of the convention center and ate lunch. Lunch was really good. There were hard tacos, soft tacos, and best of all, chocolate cake.
This is the cake and veggie tacos I ate for lunch.
After lunch, we had to go back to the hotel and change into our concert dress. This was the big day we had been working hard for. At 1:30 sharp, all of us were downstairs in the hotel lobby and once the last people reached, we went back to the convention center.
We went to the warm up room at 2 pm and warmed up till 2:45. At 3 pm, we walked onto the stage in our very best behaviors. I went to my seat near the podium and within a few minutes, we started our performance. The pieces we played were Saint Paul’s Suite 1st Movement Jig (Holst), Chapter One (Nunez), Rock Canyon Club (Silva), The Faraway Place (Hofeldt), and Vanishing Pointe (Meyer). At about 3:30 pm, we had finished our performance. We sat on the stage till 3:45 and headed to the clinic room after that.
The clinic room was where a judge would work with you and give you some tips on your music. Our clinician was Terry Shade. She was extremely energetic and her feedback wasn’t very useful. Once the clinic was over, we packed our instruments, headed back to the hotel, and changed out of our concert dress.
At 6 pm, all of us were told to come downstairs and we were going to head out for dinner. We went to eat at a restaurant called Bucca di Beppo.
When we entered the restaurant, there was a section sectioned off for our group. We took a seat and they started us of with some salad. Once the salad was over, they served us red sauce and white sauce spaghetti. For desert, they gave us cheesecake. The food was really good and tasty and I definitely recommend this place. At 8 pm, we left the restaurant and headed back to the convention center.
At the convention center, there was a late night event for students. The purpose of the event was to meet other students from other schools. When we arrived there, there were lots of food (popcorn, candy, fruits, cookies), small toys, and glow sticks. The event was really boring because everyone was just doing their own thing. At 9 pm, Sanjana, Chantale, Claris, and I decided to go back to our hotel. We watched some youtube, took a shower, and slept at 11:30 pm.
This was all the candy at the student late night event.
Day 3 – March 9, 2019
We got up at 7 am, and finished breakfast by 8:30. The breakfast wasn’t as good as the other days. All there was was some juice and granola bars. Once we finished breakfast, our whole group along with the other schools waited outside Ballroom C. Today was the day we would find out what place we got in the competition.
As we entered the room, the coordinators and judges gave a small little speech and then they began the ceremony. They started by giving each group participation trophies. Then they started with the actual awards. My hands were sweating and my phone was ready to record. They first announced 3rd place and it wasn’t us. We all thought the 3rd place group was really good so I didn’t have high hopes for us. Then they went to 2nd place. “The group that got 2nd place goes to the Hopkins…” and that is all we needed to hear. We all jumped up out of seats and started screaming. I couldn’t believe we had gotten 2nd place! Mr. Conway went up to the stage along with two of the best musicians in our orchestra. They picked up our 2nd place trophy and brought it down to the audience.
This is our conductor (Mr. Conway) with our two best musicians (Claris and Katherine) with some of the judges.
The rest of the award ceremony was really boring because they went through all the high school groups and it took a long time. After the award ceremony, we got to eat lunch in the exhibit hall. There was pasta, cookies, bread, and salad. I finished lunch by 12:30 and after, we got to look around in the exhibit hall. There were lots of amazing instruments to try out.
This is me attempting to play a 1/32 (really really really small) violin.
At 2 pm, our group decided to go back to our room and rest. At exactly 2:50 pm, all the groups that performed in the National Orchestra festival were called to the Awards Concert. The two groups that played at the concert were the middle school 1st place group and high school 1st place group. The middle school group that won 1st place was from Las Vegas, Nevada. Their pieces were really good and I am pretty sure they also won 1st last year.
By 5 pm, the concert for the 1st place groups were over and we went back to the hotel. At 6:30 pm, we went back downstairs and hoped into the buses. We were going to Dave and Busters for dinner! At Dave and Busters, my friends and I sat at a table and played some cards while we waited for our pizza and fries.
These are my friends Elaina, Sanjana, Carolyn, Chantale, and Claris.
After eating for 30 min, Mr. Conway gave us cards with money loaded onto them to play in the arcade. At first, I played car racing and basketball games. I soon realized that those games didn’t even give any tickets. I then went to the game where you spin the wheel and I earned so many tickets from that. Before we left, I traded in my tickets for some prizes; a pineapple water bottle, a donut plushie, and a cake plushie.
We reached our hotel by 9:30 pm and we were told to pack our suitcases since we were going back home the next day. I packed my suitcase, took a shower, and slept at 11 pm.
Day 4 – March 10, 2019
Sanjana, Claris, Chantale, and I got up at 6:30 am, got dressed, and headed downstairs. For breakfast, we had to eat the food provided by the hotel. I attempted making myself some toast for breakfast but I messed up so many times. The first time I put the toast in the toaster, I didn’t know how to pop it out. The second time, the button that pops the toast up did not work. And the third time, I waited to long and the toast got burned again. Finally, the fourth time, the toast came out perfectly.
After breakfast, we went to our room to get our suitcase and our instruments. At 8:30, we started loading busses and at 9:40, we reached the Albuquerque International Airport. After checking in bags and going through security check and all that stuff, we had till 11:30 am to do whatever we wanted. Our whole group first headed to the terminal. Other folks at the airport saw us carrying our instruments and they asked if we could play a song for them. Immediately we said yes, unpacked our instruments, and started playing our whole set of music. People around us started video taping and I felt like a movie star.
After playing our set of music, we packed our instruments and some of us decided to get some Panda Express for lunch. At 11:30 am, we boarded our plane and within 3 hours, we were back at school :(.
I had such an amazing time in Albuquerque with all my friends and never thought I would get a chance to participate in a National Competition. I want to thank Mr. Conway, for all his hard work and dedication in helping us achieve a 2nd place award and taking the time to organize such a well-planned trip.
Last year in May of 2018, I bought a pair of shoes (Adidas swift run) from the Adidas store. Let me just say, they were the most comfortable shoes and most expensive shoes I ever bought. I wore them everyday to school but there was a slight issue. By November of 2018, just a few months after I bought them, there was a hole in the front of the shoe. The other shoe was fine so it’s not me. It was probably the stitch quality.
This is the hole in the front of my shoe.
I wanted to buy another pair of shoes but my parents were not in the same boat as me. They didn’t refuse to buy me another pair but they were not too happy as I hadn’t even worn them for long. They told me that I should bring this up with Adidas Customer Service to see if they can do something about my shoes and the journey starts…
On December 26, a month after my shoes ripped, I called Adidas Customer Service. I never talked to like a professional person or whatever you call them so I was kind of nervous. I called them and told them that my shoes ripped and asked if they could do something about that. The person I was talking to made me write them an email stating all the information about my shoes like the code number, etc. They said they would get back to me ASAP.
A month after I wrote the email, I didn’t get any response back and I was still wearing the torn up shoe. I called them back and this time, the person gave me a shipping label. The label was supposed to be taped onto a box with my shoes inside of it. The shoes with a hole in it would get shipped to the Adidas Headquarters. Once the shoes arrived there, the people would send me an electronic gift card with a FULL REFUND of the shoes.
I shipped the shoes to the Adidas Headquarters on Jan 28, 2019 and in less than 2 weeks, I got a $70 gift card through my email. I was shocked. I thought they would never send me a gift card but they actually did.
The next day, I found the shoes I wanted and order them. The shoes I wanted were $140 (way out of my budget). When I went to buy them however, they were 50% of making them $70. My gift card would take care of the $70 and we would only have to pay tax (about $5). When we were checking out, my mom had an Adidas coupon that gave an additional 15% off. So cool right!!! Then the shoes costed about $60 and with $5 tax, the total cost of the shoe was $65. I used the gift card to buy the shoes and at the end, I still had $5 left on the gift card.
These are the new shoes I bought. I really like how the laces look different than a regular shoe. These shoes are called Adidas Arkyn Shoes.
These shoes arrived on February 12, 2019, and they are sooooo comfortable. So why would Adidas offer such a great customer experience? Because Adidas knew I am a teenager and my value to them is huge. The technical term for that is Customer Lifetime Value or CLTV. Imagine now I will talk about this to my friends and my friends will talk to their friends and so on. Plus I will likely remain a customer with them for life. Because I know that if something goes wrong with my shoes, I can just give them a call and they will do whatever it takes to make sure their customer is happy and always has a pair or two of shoes to wear.
On December 22, 2018, our family left for Bear Valley, a small ski town in California. We try to do a ski trip at least once each year because I just love skiing. We stayed about a 30 minutes drive from the ski resort in a cute little town called Arnold, CA. And this is all that I did in the 3 nights and 4 days we were there.
Day 1 – December 22, 2018
I got up at 6 am on December 22nd and was ready to hit the road by 8 for Arnold, CA. The total drive time from home was about 3 hours. Till about an hour away from the destination, I hardly saw any snow and assumed that I wouldn’t get to do any snowy stuff once I was there. But that changed suddenly when we approached Arnold, CA where we saw a lot of snow everywhere. The sides of the roads were covered with snow and it looked like we were in a winter wonderland.
But before we reached Arnold, we wanted to do lunch because we were so hungry. And Stockton, CA was on our way so we thought we’ll find a place to eat there. While searching online, we came across a very old Sikh temple. And Sikh temple means langar, a kitchen open to anyone who wants to eat. Plus the food is pure vegetarian, a key determinant when we want to find a place to eat. I was hesitant to go into the temple because I felt bad about eating free food, but regardless, we went anyways.
This is me, my sister and my mom at the Sikh Temple eating the yummy food.
I wasn’t expecting much, but the food was actually really good. There was some great Indian food, soda, and best of all, popcorn. Before leaving, we left some tip at the temple and were back on the road.
At around 1 pm, we reached our cabin where we were to stay. The cabin was divided into 2 houses and we stayed in the bottom half. The home had a small pool table and lots of games. There were 2 bedrooms, one for me and my sister, and the other for my parents. It was a wood cabin and was really cute and cozy.
This is the cabin we stayed at for 3 nights.
The rest of the day, we stayed in the cabin, watched some TV, and ate snacks. At around 9 pm, we went to sleep because the next day we had to rise up early to go skiing.
Day 2 – December 23, 2018
We got up at 9 am, ate breakfast, and wore all our ski gear. We put on our padded socks, waterproof overalls, ski jackets, and snow boots. We reached the Bear Valley Ski resort at around 11 am, and within about 30 minutes or so, we hit the slopes.
This is me getting ready to hit the slopes for the day.
I started off with the easy slopes before lunch with my sister and later went on the steeper ones by myself. And while on those slopes, I got lost a few times because there were so many paths to go down. I eventually found my way and ended up back down.
4 pm is when the resort closes for the night so we went back to our cabin. For dinner, we ate pizza and then watched a lot of T.V. because that’s the only time we get to violate rules. I slept pretty early because the following day, our friends would be coming over to join us.
This is me and my sister watching T.V.
Day 3 – December 24, 2018
We all got up at 8 am, got ready, and left for the same ski resort. I was excited because this time, I would be skiing with my friends. Once we reached the resort, our friends were waiting for us and we started off with the blue diamond (intermediate) slope. And some of those were pretty steep and rough but most were great.
After skiing for more than 5 hours, we went back to our cabin and they went to theirs. As soon as I came to the cabin, I took a shower and ate some yummy pasta my dad made. We slept early again to get ready for ski the next day.
Day 4 – December 25, 2018
In the morning, we went skiing for the last time and again with my friends. On the way to the resort, it was snowing heavily and the roads were really slippery.
This is the view from our car on the way to the resort.
At the resort, my friends and I decided to go take on the black diamond slopes. At first it was really hard because the snow was really soft and powdery. After skiing a few times, I kind of got the hang of it. I did fall a couple of times but that was pretty much it. After we finished skiing, we played with snowballs and it was actually really fun. I did get hit a few times but that was that.
This is my sister playing with her friends in the snow.
At about 4 pm, we left the resort and since it was Christmas day, there were not many places open to eat. So once again, we found another Sikh temple but the food here wasn’t as tasty but I was fine with it. After dinner, our friends and us went our separate ways home.
