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Entry bubble We Want your Independence Day Pictures!

By: Colleen | June 24, 2009 | Category: Fun

Every kid who grew up in the Philadelphia area from 1967-1994 has the Sunday morning jingle, "send your pictures to dear ol' 4th julyCaptain Noah" permanently etched in their brains. Dear ol' Captain Noah gathered quite a collection of paintings and drawings over the years, which he shared with the whole Delaware Valley during his much anticipated weekly segment.

It is in that same spirit that GovGab is anxious to announce our own form of picture-share, but with a more modern twist.

With the Independence Day holiday approaching, USA.gov and GobiernoUSA.gov want to know, "How do you celebrate the Fourth of July?" Submit photos from your backyard BBQ, fireworks displays, baseball games, picnics, parades...whatever it is you do to celebrate Independence Day, we encourage you to share it.

 Anyone 18 years or older, of any nationality, living in any country is welcome to submit pictures of their holiday experiences to our specially created Flickr group.

At the conclusion of the holiday weekend, selected photos will be posted on GovGab, along with special editor posts covering various 4th of July events.

Photos will be reviewed to be sure their content is appropriate, and you're submitting with the understanding that they might be shared on GovGab, USA.gov, or GobiernoUSA.gov.

Just think- it is only in the past few years that we've been able to have such an instantaneous sharing of information...let's use it to have some fun and celebrate together.

Shoot, even Captain Noah required postage...

Again, to submit your photos: here is the link to our Fourth of July Flickr Group.

| View Comments [4] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: colleen   flickr   fourth_of_july   gobiernousa.gov   independence_day   pictures   usa.gov  

 

Entry bubble Where to find us on the social Web

By: Jess | March 05, 2009 | Category: Fun

Man on computer

Back in October Joanne wrote about how the government was making inroads using social media tools to reach larger audiences. In four short months, USA.gov, GobiernoUSA.gov and Pueblo.gsa.gov, as well as many other government agencies, have made a lot of progress on the social media front.

If Twitter is your scene you can follow all three. GovGab also has a Twitter feed if you prefer getting updates on our recent posts that way. Feel free to reach out to us on Twitter as well. If you post a question to the Pueblo feed, I'm the person who will Tweet the information back to you. We also use our Twitter feeds to share all kinds of interesting government information like recall alerts or the latest on what President Obama is up to.

We also offer e-mail alerts, RSS feeds and widgets if you want to centralize all the information we provide in one place on your computer. I encourage you to check us out on which ever social media platform you prefer. If you're not currently using any form of social media, why not pick one and give it a try? It's a great chance to learn valuable information in a new a way.

If you have questions on how to get started with social media or where to find us, feel free to leave me a comment and I'll try my best to help you out.

| Post a Comment | View Comments [5] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: facebook   government   government_2.0   jess   pueblo.gsa.gov   rss_feeds   social_media   twitter   usa.gov   web_2.0  

 

Entry bubble Filing taxes in two states

By: Jess | February 05, 2009 | Category: Money

taxesMoving from Pennsylvania to Maryland a few months ago was a little bit stressful because of the distance and the date my previous lease ended and my new one started. I had thought that after I finished sleeping on a friend’s sofa and was in my own place, my moving stresses were over.

But I hadn’t thought about taxes and how the move would affect that.

Like many other people who moved this year, I have to file tax returns in two different states. I’ve never filed a single tax return before, so I’m a little bit nervous and had lots of questions.

Though my parents offered to help me with the Pennsylvania taxes, I was responsible for finding all the necessary forms.

It was a lot easier than I thought to find what I needed. The Federal Tax Administrators have a map linking to each state's tax information. The only form that was a little tricky was the municipality tax form for Manchester Township in York, Pa., but a lady at the tax office gave me the exact number of the form that I could print right from the Web site.

Maryland’s tax forms were even simpler because the county tax is included right on the state tax form, which meant I only needed to track down one.

Now it’s just a matter of filling the forms out, sending them in and figuring out what to do with my return check.

I’m thinking a mini-vacation may be in order.

| Post a Comment | View Comments [3] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: jess   maryland   pennsylvania   pueblo   taxes   usa.gov  

 

Entry bubble If I knew then what I know now

By: Jess | January 29, 2009 | Category: Travel

Man holding passportWho hasn't had one of those "Duh!" moments? You know, the ones where you realize after the fact that there was a much easier way to do something?

I had one of those moments as soon as I started my job with the Federal Citizen Information Center in November and learned about USA.gov.

As a child of the Google generation, my first instinct is to Google anything I want to know. If only I had known USA.gov is like the Google for government information.

Unfortunately for me, my dreaded experience trying to get a passport might be the perfect story to illustrate why I wish I would have known about USA.gov when I was in college.

At the beginning of my junior year, I wanted to spend winter term studying in Italy. It was a three-week program touring all the art and architecture in some of Italy's most famous cities, culminating in a final paper and three upper level elective credits.

It seemed financially feasible if some scholarship money came through. The only thing I needed was a passport.

I Googled how to get one, followed what I thought were reliable directions and showed up at the post office only to be told my photo wasn't acceptable. It followed the size dimensions, but wasn't zoomed in enough, or some detail like that.

I was caught off guard and frazzled, but the helpful woman working that day offered to take another picture for me.

I took a minute to catch my breath and compose myself so I could look pretty in my glamour shot. It didn't work.

Jess and roommates in BahamasI never went to Italy, but I used that passport on my graduation cruise to the Bahamas, and to this day my roommates cackle with laughter when they think about my horrible, horrible photo.

Makes me wish I had known about USA.gov a few years earlier to check out all the passport requirements. I could have looked like a superstar in my photo. Or at the very least, not like a crazy person.

Please tell me I'm not the only one with an unfortunate passport picture. Feel free to share your horror stories in the comments.

| Post a Comment | View Comments [5] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: jess   passport   usa.gov  

 

Entry bubble Financing College

By: Sam | January 23, 2008 | Category: Home and Family

My sister is in her last semester of high school, and of course, everyone’s favorite question is “Where do you want to go to college?”  Right now, it’s between five schools-2 public and 3 private. Even though the jury is still out on what colors she’ll be wearing next fall, one thing is for certain-college costs are painfully high.  graduation cap with diploma and money

It’s been 10 years since I went to college, and during that time, the average cost of tuition and fees has risen by 57% at private four-year colleges and 69% at four-year public colleges  These figures from the College Board may have you feeling a little light-headed, but the costs can be managed thanks to the power of compounding interest.

Since every family’s situation is different, you’ll need to find a savings method that works for you.  In doing so, you’ll want to consider factors like your tax bracket, child’s age, how much financial aid you expect to receive, etc.  Then, you can use these helpful college financing calculators to figure out how much you’ll need to save. 

Once you’ve determined this figure, you need to decide on a savings vehicle.  In addition to mutual funds, brokerage accounts, and bank savings accounts, there are also some tax-advantaged alternatives available to help.  Here are some options:

And remember you don’t necessarily have to save for the entire four years.  Grants, loans, and scholarships can help make affording college a little easier.  Here are some resources to get you started:

 Students

Parents

 

| View Comments [2] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: college   education   grants   loans   money   sam   scholarships   students   usa.gov  

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