Consumer Reports

I love summertime. I feel like after months of hibernation and hiding out from the cold and gloom, it’s finally time to be outside taking advantage of all the fun activities that I can only do three months out of the year. My latest kick is wanting to explore the national and state parks near me. There are so many great hiking trails, as well as places to kayak and canoe, I’m not sure I’ll be able to have time to fit it all in this summer. Because Saturday is National Trails Day , I’m planning a trip to discover a new hiking trail. The American Hiking Society hosts the event to encourage people to get out and explore the trails. National and state parks are a great place to start. You can pack a lunch, grab some water bottles and use the maps provided to spend a day in a new place. If hiking’s not your thing, lots of parks will let you ride your bike or stroll along paved paths. With so many different things to do at the parks, it’d be a shame not to explore them sometime this summer. What summertime activity are you looking forward to the most this year?

Happy Public Service Recognition Week (PSRW)! Each year the President and Congress designate the first full week of May as PSRW and activities are held nationwide and around the world in celebration of

Hi everyone! This is Jess filling in for Ginger today! You might remember several weeks ago when I introduced you to a video contest we were running at USA.gov . Well, I’m really excited to announce that we have a winning video. Peter Sullivan from Nashville, TN put together this great video that tells the fictional story of a man who moved into a new neighborhood and wanted to get in touch with his representative. Peter worked on this video around his family’s schedule and even made sure to include his kids. I encourage you to check out the video and if you want to learn more about how Peter made the video, check out his interview with Federal News Radio.

After more than two and half years of sharing all sorts of government information with you, I’m sorry to say that this will be GovGab’s last post. We’re all going to be sad to see GovGab go, but we hope you’ll continue to find all the government information you need through our websites , Facebook pages and Twitter feeds . Thank you to all our wonderful readers for sticking with us through these last two and a half years. We have appreciated your support. How did that sound? Good? Believable? Did I trick a few of you? It is after all April Fool’s Day , a time for pranks and jokes, and I just couldn’t help myself. You didn’t really believe we were going to leave you hanging and stop providing you with great government information, did you? Well just to clarify, we’re not going anywhere and this definitely isn’t our last post. Do you play jokes on your friends on April Fool’s Day? Have any good ones planned for this year?

Tracking Santa just got easier. The people at NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, known for bringing us the ability to track Santa on his Christmas Eve trek around the world, have added tons more ways to stay up to the minute on Santa’s whereabouts. You can follow Santa’s action on Facebook and Twitter . Plus there are pictures of Santa and his elves at NORAD briefings and other activities available on Flickr . And videos of Santa cruising the globe will be on YouTube . All of the new methods of Santa tracking are in addition to the ability to track him on your phone or by calling (1-877-Hi-NORAD) or e-mailing (noradtracksanta-AT-gmail-DOT-com) the official Santa trackers. Santa tracking begins at midnight MST (2 a.m. on the East Coast) on Christmas Eve. You can track Santa all through the day and when you see him getting close to you, it’s time to leave some milk and cookies (and maybe a carrot for Rudolph) and tuck the kids in to bed. From the GovGab team, we wish you and yours a happy and safe holiday season.

It was so cold last week that I had to dig out the big coat . Winter officially starts in two weeks and for me that means it’s reading season. Not that I don’t read the rest of the year, it just always seems I read more in the winter.

**Arlene Hernandez is the manager of Kids.gov, the U.S. Government’s webportal for children, their parents, and educators. Today she steps in for Colleen to talk about Kids.gov’s first podcast.** Do you remember your first trip to the zoo? Seeing a live elephant or giraffe for the first time? It’s moments like this that inspire kids to become veterinarians. Earlier this year, Colleen and I visited the National Zoo in Washington, DC to meet Dr. Carlos Sanchez, Veterinarian. We were lucky to interview him for the Career Spotlight on Kids.gov . We found out about his duties, his training programs, and took a tour of the animal hospital. Colleen was most impressed by the wide spectrum of a zoo veterinarian’s knowledge. They have to know all sorts of anatomy- from a butterfly wing to an elephant’s knee! You can listen to Dr. Carlos talk about his adventures as a zoo veterinarian in our first podcast. Find out what a “typical” day is like, how he ended up at the National Zoo, and his advice to aspiring veterinarians. You can also read the whole interview . When you were younger, did you want to work with animals? Do you have special memories from trips to the zoo? Please share them with us!

About two weeks ago, we asked people to share their Independence Day photos with us by adding them to our group on Flickr. Since then, people from all over the world have shared over 200 photos! We’ve had a lot of fun seeing how people celebrate our favorite day of the year with BBQs, swimming, fireworks, parades, and time with family and friends. Here is a selection of the many beautiful 4th of July photos people shared with us that capture the variety of ways that people celebrate our independence across the country. Hope you had a great holiday! Untitled by Shawn Farrington Untitled by cebasham Happy 4th of July by John F Hark Red, White, & Blue by Budweiser Clydesdales by Tim Archibald Independence Day Parade by oplkids swirly by jasonsbytes Waterford VA July 4 2009 by NancyTylerPhotos In the Spirit by Mr. Saint Spaniel BamBam on the 4th of July by erniejon See more beautiful 4th of July photos shared on Flickr .

I’m taking a hiatus from my Gov Gab hiatus today to bring you my GSA coworkers reports about their Fourth of July experiences. My colleague Karen Trebon tells us about the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and my colleague Jonathan Rubin reports out on the National Mall fireworks display. Tell us about your Independence Day celebrations in the comments section and don’t forget to post your photos to the USA.gov Fourth of July Flickr photostream . You have until midnight eastern time tonight and we’ll be highlighting our favorite photos here tomorrow!

If you’ve been reading this blog for any amount of time, you probably know by now that we are all about sharing information with you through a variety of different channels. You can visit all of our many Web sites, USA.gov , GobiernoUSA.gov , Pueblo.gsa.gov , Consumeraction.gov and more. You can also find us on Facebook , Twitter and YouTube . And every year we put out a public service campaign to tell you all about our services. We’ve recently released our newest television commercial and I wanted to share it with you. Our theme this year was a takeoff of “We are the World.” So you can expect to see and hear some awesome singing by some very talented actors. Check out both versions. The 60-second version is all about USA.gov and the great stuff you can find there, like applying for Social Security or renewing a passport or driver’s license. The 15-second commercial is all about 1-800-FED-INFO, the phone number you can call to get just about any government question answered. If you’re anything like me, you’ll have the song stuck in your head for the rest of the day! Update: I got a comment asking for the direct links to our Facebook profiles so I’ve included all our social media links below! USA.gov on Facebook Pueblo.gsa.gov on Facebook USA.gov on Twitter GobiernoUSA.gov on Facebook GobiernoUSA.gov on Twitter Pueblo on Twitter GovGab on Twitter U.S. Government YouTube channel