February 21, 2021 by Christine Poirier

Cryptocurrency…

As our children are getting older, conversations around the diner table are changing and getting quite interesting. They are curious and asking questions about investments, real estate, stock market and all kinds of topics found on social media. Lately, the big questions is; should we invest in cryptocurrency? As parents, we are fortunate that our children are curious and interested in these types of conversations but the answer is not always at the tip of our tongues and sometimes, a bit of research is needed.

_{Photo of Bitcoins by Alesia Kozik on Pexels.com}

When did cryptocurrency start?

Over a decade ago, Satoshi Nakamoto created the first and most popular cryptocurrency in the world, the Bitcoin. This type of digital and virtual currency operates independently from central banks and lets you buy goods and services, or trade them for profit. As there are no physical coins, they offer the promise of lower transaction fees compared to traditional online payment mechanisms. As of January 2021, there are more then 4,000 cryptocurrencies available on the market.

Why are cryptocurrencies so popular?

Investors see cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin as the currency of the future and are racing to buy them now, before they become more valuable
Cryptocurrency removes central banks from managing the money supply, since over time these banks tend to reduce the value of money via inflation
Some people like the technology behind it, the blockchain, because it’s a decentralized processing and recording system and can be more secure compared to traditional payment systems
Others like the facts that they are going up in value and it’s a great way to move money.

Are they a safe investment?

As NerdWallet writers have noted, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin may not be that safe, and some notable voices in the investment community have advised investors to avoid them. Legendary investor Warren Buffett compared Bitcoin to paper checks: “It’s a very effective way of transmitting money and you can do it anonymously and all that. A check is a way of transmitting money too. Are checks worth a whole lot of money just because they can transmit money?”

Currency needs stability so that merchants and consumers can determine what a fair price is for goods. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been anything but stable through much of their history. For example, while Bitcoin traded at close to $20,000 in December 2017, its value then dropped to as low as $3,200 in 2018. By December 2020, it was trading at record levels of $40,000.

Best cryptocurrencies by market capitalization:

Here is a capture of the 5 largest trading cryptocurrencies by market capitalization as tracked by CoinMarketCap, a cryptocurrency data and analytics provider:

As I dig deeper in this topic, I realize that this is much more complicated then I thought. There is an enormous amount of information out there regarding cryptocurrency and frankly, this is beyond my knowledge. If my children decide to eventually go down this route and invest in crypto’s, we’ll have no choice but to consult a personal financial adviser…

What are your thoughts on cryptocurrency investments? Any suggestions?

_{Photo of question marks by Olya Kob^ruseva on Pexels.com}

References:

Bitcoin Definition (investopedia.com)

The History of Bitcoin | Investing | US News

7 of the Best Cryptocurrencies to Invest in Now | WTOP

The 10 Most Important Cryptocurrencies Other Than Bitcoin (investopedia.com)Is Bitcoin Safe? – NerdWallet

Cryptocurrency Prices, Charts And Market Capitalizations | CoinMarketCap

Social Media Links:

Twitter: Investing in crypto… https://bit.ly/3jY52M8

Facebook: Cryptocurrencies, should we invest? https://bit.ly/3jY52M8

February 12, 2021 by Christine Poirier

Social media… are you being inclusive.

Did you know that more then 6 million Canadians aged 15 and over have a disability and that at least one billion people, 15% of the world’s population, experience some form of disability?

In June of 2019, Canada adopted an Act to ensure a barrier-free country, Accessible Canada Act, making an accessible Canada for people with disabilities. This is great news but… even though this new Act is in place, many web sites, tools, programmes and social media platforms where developed with accessibility barriers, which makes it challenging for people with disabilities to use them.

^{_{Photo by Omkar Patyane on Pexels.com} _{of someone adding a post on his or her phone.}}

Before the Accessible Canada Act, people that created content had a choice to be accessible or not. Barriers were not addressed because most people would react by saying there is no law that forces me to be accessible. Now, they no longer have a choice and all the work that was done in the past, has to be revamped and possibly recreated because content MUST now be fully accessible.

Even thought social media platforms are not 100% accessible, people with disabilities use them on a daily basis to communicate and stay connected. As a social media user, I myself tend to forget to apply simple basic accessibility rules when posting on my Facebook page or even when sending an email to a colleague. While social media platforms may not be friendly to all forms of assistive technology, we can control the content we post and should take the necessary steps to make it as accessible as possible.

Here are a few simple things you can do to improve the accessibility of your content when posting on social media or sending out emails:

Use plain language – Clear and direct text helps a variety of readers, including those using assistive technology like screen readers.
Use people first language – Speak appropriately and respectfully about an individual with a disability. Emphasizes the person first not the disability.
Include captions on videos and descriptions on photos – People with hearing loss would be unable to comprehend and engage with video content without captioning. Descriptions under photos helps screen-reading tools to describe images to visually impaired readers.
Limit emoji and emoticon use – Emoji’s and emoticons get read aloud by assistive technology which mean people will hear things like “loudly crying face” or “face with closed eyes and stuck out tongue.”
Use camel case for multi-word hashtags – This makes hashtags more legible, more compatible with screen readers.
Don’t embed text in your images – A screen reader is more limited than a human reader. It can’t read text that’s contained in an image.
Use short links – Link shortening services not only save you characters in your posts, but they help limit the raw characters a screen-reader has to read aloud.

By following these simple guidelines and making a habit of keeping social media accessibility in mind, this will allow us to connect with more people and help present information in the clearest possible way. In my personal opinion, this is just a way of being a better person and taking into account the wellbeing of others.

When it comes to your social media life, is being accessible a habit or do you need to work on it?

References:

Disability Inclusion Overview (worldbank.org)

Making an accessible Canada for people with disabilities – Canada.ca

Making Social Media More Accessible to People with Disabilities | 3Play Media

7 Ways to Make Social Media Accessible » Community | GovLoop

How to Caption Social Media Videos and Boost Engagement (3playmedia.com)

Social Media Links:

Twitter: Keeping accessibility in mind https://bit .ly/378gi3s

Facebook: Social media and accessibility https://bit.ly/378gi3s

February 4, 2021 by Christine Poirier

Disconnect to Reconnect…

People tend to ask me; how do you do it? Where do you find time to work, do groceries, laundry and housework, manage kid’s appointments and still go to the cottage each and every weekend? I simply reply that this is a need for our family and not just a choice. In this hectic and busy world, we live in, going to our cottage and knowing that there is no internet connection and no cellular reception brings me a certain calm, relief and inner peace. For me, there’s nothing like sitting around a camp fire, enjoying the outdoors and connecting with the people I love. This is my pill, my happy place, my reward and how I enjoy spending my weekends.

When I met my husband, over 20 years ago, he introduced me to hunting, fishing, camping and outdoor adventures. We would spend our weekends in the wild with his two brothers, spouses, cousins and friends. This was a new way of life, appreciating what nature had to offer and creating special bonds along the way. It showed me that there was more to life then working relentless hours, keeping an immaculate home, going shopping and spending my money in restaurants…

^{Picture of my husband and I enjoying a nice winter day at the cottage.}

A few years passed and then it happened… we decided to have kids. For us, having children didn’t change who we were but strengthened our values and pushed us to better ourselves. As parents, we wanted to continue our weekend adventures and create new memories with our little ones. Of course, we needed to plan differently; be organised, always think in advance, be ready for any given situation, practice patience, be responsible and bring LOT’S more stuff. However, we also knew that we wanted to raise strong, independent, grounded, resilient kids. In fact, most studies agree that kids who play outside and spend time in nature are smarter, happier, more attentive, and less anxious than kids who spend more time indoors.

Here are few reasons why nature is good for kids:

Builds confidence
Promotes creativity and imagination
Teaches responsibilities
Provides different stimulations
Gets them moving
Makes them think
Reduce stress and fatigue

All these qualities and traits are what we stand for and what we wanted to pass-on to our children. In this fast-paced world, the opportunity to slow down is not very far away.

_{Kids with magnifying glasses exploring the nature. Slightly soft.}

Now that our kids are older, 15 and 17 years old, and that we appreciate a bit more luxury, my husband and I decided to purchase a nice cottage with a lakefront view and of course no cellular network. Surprisingly, our kids still follow us, enjoy our company and find peace with disconnecting from their busy social media life and reconnecting with each other.

Do you think you could disconnect for a weekend?

Social media links:

Twitter: Disconnect to Reconnect… https://bit.ly/3tnFH2i

Facebook: Disconnect to Reconnect… https://bit.ly/3tnFH2i

References:

Raising Resilient Kids with Nature | Childhood By Nature

Why Kids Need to Spend Time in Nature | Child Mind Institute

12 Tips to Raise Confident Children | Building Self-Esteem | Child Mind Institute

January 24, 2021 by Christine Poirier

Labour crisis…

For more than 20 years, I’ve been supporting and helping my husband to grow and to better his business in the construction industry. I work full-time for the Government of Canada but when I can, I love to help. Like all small business owners, we’ve had our ups and downs but we’ve always managed to overcome the challenges along the way. For most small businesses, the Covid-19 pandemic has been a real game changer but luckily for my husband’s business, Construction Dorion and their employees, the construction industry remains essential in Ontario and business continues as usual with of course, sanitary measures.

*_{Three construction labourers working with masks due to COVID-19 mandatory sanitary measures.}*

For the past 2 years, the company has been struggling with something else that is also completely out of our control, the labour crisis in our province. We are having trouble recruiting skilled employees to work for our company and realizing that this will be an ongoing challenge for many years to come. A new report from BuildForce Canada warns that the construction industry in Ontario will face a huge shortage of skilled labour over the next ten years and that many construction projects will have trouble finding the workers they need. In fact, more than one in five workers currently employed in construction will soon be reaching retirement. This lack of labour is putting a lot of pressure on business owners and their employees. More than ever, as a company, we need to step up our game and find an innovative and creative way to recruit new employees.

_{Representation of retiring construction workers in the next 10 years compared to the new labourers entering the work place.}

Up to know, we’ve been proven unsuccessful with our Facebook and Kijiji ads as well as our Market Place post’s. This current situation has left us feeling discouraged, frustrated and desperate.

There are so many other ways to reach out to people: having our own website, Twitter, Instagram or or even a LinkedIn account. Having a strong presence on social media and learning marketing skills will most likely help when promoting job opportunities, but is this enough? Should we reach out to foreign countries, which offer vast opportunities?

Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.