Consumer Reports

I’m fairly certain that while growing up, my sister and I didn’t miss a single opportunity to watch any cartoon special on TV. Because of this, we have some pretty obscure movie lines we use regularly for nearly any life situation. Unfortunately, because most kids were much cooler than us, nobody has a clue that every time we say, “To the beach, Jon!” it is a reference to ” Garfield in Paradise ” circa 1986. One of our favorite specials was ” Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown .” In this cartoon epic, the Peanuts gang travels to Europe allegedly to participate in a student-exchange program. For reasons never explained, Lucy doesn’t get to cross the pond, but yells, “Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown, and don’t come back!!” as the rest of the troops board their flight. Since then, this has been our standard way to say “goodbye” to each other. Today, I am saying, “Bon voyage, and don’t come back!” to my regular Wednesday blog entry on Gov Gab. When I first arrived at the Federal Citizen Information Center over three years ago, Gov Gab was merely an idea, with a different name. Since then I’ve been able to write about everything from Root Canal Awareness Week , to Smoking Bans , and all things in-between, including an open letter to Punxsutawney Phil . During my time spent in this office, I’ve realized that there really are many, many resources available to the public from your government to help you out. USA.gov (newly re-designed!) has a wealth of information available- most of which you probably might not even think of as “government” related. The fine people at the National Contact Center (1-800-FED-INFO) passed the ultimate test- dealing with my Mother - and are there to assist you with your needs over the telephone. For your brochures or pamphlets on government services or programs, pueblo.gsa.gov is at your service to send printed information. But behind all these great services and more, are government workers who really do care, and take pride in their work. I know there is a stigma of the typical bureaucrat worker- but please believe there are people who work tirelessly on weekends and after-hours to do the best we can to make sure the government is working for YOU. I’ve loved interacting with you readers via the comments section and email. Even the ones who gave me a hard time. That’s what the government and this blog are all about- making your voice heard. I am setting out to continue my education in a sunny and warm location, but leave with nothing but fond memories and experience. I’ll continue to read Gov Gab regularly- so you may see me in the comments section from time to time! So instead of saying, “Bon voyage, and don’t come back!” I leave you with, “Welcome to Great Britain.” “We’ll never get to England now!” And if you can name that movie , you are a shoo-in for Gov Gab’s reader of the year. Go Phillies! ~Colleen

…Peter Sullivan, a stay-at-home dad from Nashville, Tennessee. Visit USA.gov’s YouTube channel to see the winning video, “Get Your Voice Heard.”

Early this year, USA.gov hosted the public dialog, Your Voice Matters. Find out what people said about the U.S. government’s official web portal.

USA.gov is hosting a new dialog, “Your Voice Matters,” to spark a public discussion about ways to improve the U.S. government’s official web portal. How do you prefer to access government information and services? Please share your ideas and vote on ideas posted by others. The dialog will be open until January 8, 2010.

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!