Saturday, November 22, 2008

Get a Flu Shot! I see signs plastered all over grocery stores, pharmacies and even in the GSA building telling me to get a flu vaccination. I'm a little skeptical of flu shots. I don't have a fear of needles; it's just that I learned firsthand last year that if you get a flu shot it doesn't guarantee you will avoid getting the flu. Even though I got my shot in October last year, my dad still gave me the flu over the holidays. There are various strains of influenza and scientists create the vaccination from the three strains that they find most likely to cause the most illness during flu season. Last year I got one of those other strains. Still, a flu shot is the best way to prevent the flu. Since I got the vaccine and still got the flu, the Centers for Disease Control says the shot can make the experience milder. I think this is true as I don't remember hallucinating when I had the flu like I did when I got the flu in the past. Flu season varies in duration from year to year. We may see flu outbreaks in October, but we generally don't see most cases until after January, so it's important to get your shot early. Keep in mind that there are some people the CDC highly recommend get shots (children, elderly, etc.) and those that they say shouldn't or at least should check with their doctor before getting one (those who are allergic to eggs or who have Guillain-Barré syndrome). You can get flu shots at grocery stores, pharmacies, your doctor's office and flu clinics. Once you get your flu shot there are other steps you can take to prevent coming down with the flu. You can check out CDC's influenza surveillance website. If you see your friends or co-workers become ill, it's good to know the difference between a cold and the flu. If you take all these actions and still wind up with the flu, there are things you can do to have a swift recovery. I hope you avoid it though! - Jake [Gov Gab: Your U.S. Government Blog] 1:51:49 PM     Beyond Pumpkin Pie Our Kids.gov manager Arlene shared her fantastic apple pie recipe with us in the comments section of my birthday post last week. And that got me to thinking: The apple pie's all gone and now I'm craving pumpkin. So for fun I did a search on USA.gov for pumpkin recipes and was not disappointed by what I found among federal, state and local government and nonprofit websites. So for your culinary pleasure, here are some of my favorite discoveries: Think pumpkin and you probably think "pie." You can get the standard recipe on any can of pureed pumpkin. But here are two new ones to try: Pineapple pumpkin pie, a diabetic-friendly recipe from South Dakota's Department of Health. With just two tablespoons of sugar in the crust and two more in the filling, the pineapple and juice make up for the rest of the sweetness. Crunchy pumpkin pie from the National Institutes of Health's National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. It's made with skim milk and just a bit of oil in the crust. The crunch is right there in the crust, full of oats and almonds. If you have celiac disease and can't tolerate—or don't want to use—regular flour, Ohio State University's extension department suggests harvest pumpkin bars, using soy flour for the crust. Pumpkin cheesecake from South Carolina? That sounds good about now, as do pumpkin orange cookies from Alabama's Tallapoosa County Extension Office. Kids get such a kick out of cooking. How about saving the seeds from their jack-o-lanterns and toasting them up with one of the creative mix-ins suggested by the kids in Michigan's Saranac Community School District? Pumpkin's good for more than just desserts. The Vegetarian Resource Group offers recipes for pumpkin and lentils, stuffed pumpkins and more. I've hollowed out pumpkins but never filled them! In the mood for something light, like soup? King County, Washington has a spiced pumpkin soup recipe and my home base, the state of New Jersey has pumpkin bread and pumpkin-mushroom soup recipes for you to try. Aiming to eat not so light? Take a peek at the Pentagon Channel's pumpkin and sweet Italian sausage fettuccine. Yes sir, that's good eating! Which of these recipes are you tempted to try? - Nancy [Gov Gab: Your U.S. Government Blog] 1:50:29 PM     Preparing for a Layoff It happened again just now. Another friend told me he's been laid off. That's the second this week. And there are so many others who are hearing rumors that their jobs could be next or who have had their work hours cut so severely that they think it's just a matter of time before they're pink slipped too. If your company has lost a lot of business or has been bought out recently or you're just sensing from talk around the office that your job is vulnerable, asking yourself a few questions now can help you be prepared if the worst happens later. What does my current financial picture look like? The rule of thumb is to have the equivalent of six months' salary in your savings account. Most people I know can't afford to do that. Take a look at what you have and think about how you can cut your monthly expenses. Can you... Refinance your mortgage? Cut any services or subscriptions like cable TV or DVD rentals? Renegotiate or get out of contracts with the gym or the daycare center? Get a deferment on your student loans? How out of date is my resume? Commercial job search sites like Monster.com offer up-to-date tips for crafting the right resume for the line of work you're going after. And I found a slew of resume templates that you can download if you use Microsoft Word. Who do I know? I got this job through networking. I gave a friend a copy of my resume and she gave it to the then-editor of the Consumer Information Catalog who passed it on to my future bosses. You never know how you're going to find your next job. So let friends and family know, join social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn and job hunting sites and get the word out. Also consider setting up a special job hunting email account rather than using your personal or family email and think about changing the voice mail on the phone number you'll be using on your resume; as cute as your two-year-old might sound singing on the home answering machine, a potential employer may not be so amused. How does unemployment insurance work? It's one of those things you don't think about 'til you need it. But if you can get familiar with it now, it'll be one less thing you'll have to figure out later. If you are laid off, Job-hunt.org has excellent tips on what to do right away, from negotiating a severance package to continuing your health insurance coverage. This is a rough time for so many people. What advice do you have for someone who's facing a layoff or job hunting? - Nancy [Gov Gab: Your U.S. Government Blog] 1:48:44 PM     American Indian Heritage Month With curved walls of golden limestone and gardens filled with wetlands, boulders and crops like corn and squash, the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian doesn't look like all the other marble monuments and museums that surround it in Washington, DC. And in celebration of American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month, I thought I'd take a peek to see if the inside was as intriguing as the outside. Eight hundred thousand. That's how many artifacts the museum holds—beaded jewelry and clothing, tools and toys, exhibits on hunting and housing, celebrations and tribal nations. Daily special events like storytelling, dance exhibitions, drama and films add to a visitor's understanding of Native American life. This museum isn't the only place you can learn about the life of, and government services for, Native Americans though: USA.gov has a special section that covers cultural information, education, employment, small business issues and more for Native Americans and tribes. The Bureau of Indian Affairs manages lands held in trust for and the education of Native American families. The Indian Health Service focuses on life and medical issues that affect the Native American and Alaska Native communities. The National Park Service's National American Indian Heritage Month page links to information about places you can visit that are important to Native American history. The Department of Housing and Urban Development's CodeTalk site provides information on housing and other topics important to Native Americans. Back at the museum, I head toward the Mitsitam Cafe (that's Delaware and Piscataway for "Let's Eat!" ) This is a unique museum cafeteria; the food here represents the indigenous cuisines of the Americas. I stand back as a gaggle of blue-blazered school boys charge the "Great Plains" food line for buffalo burgers. I find what I’m looking for at the "South America" food station: a quick snack of chicken tamal and blue cornbread before continuing my tour. More than the beautiful and functional handcrafted items on display all around me, I think what fascinates me most are the video monitors throughout the museum playing interviews with members of different Native American communities, sharing stories of their tribal and family histories and how those experiences were sometimes at odds, and sometimes interwoven with the common American experience. As I look around at my fellow museum goers, not counting those school kids, one in three of us seem to be of Native American descent. While my own blood runs Scottish and German, I yearn for but don't have strong ancestral ties. I watch the Cherokee, Navajo and Sioux visitors around me, studying the exhibits marking their ancestors' lives. And I wonder what it's like for them, as part of a community that knows so well its past, to see their histories—the proud and the painful—in those exhibits and videos. - Nancy [Gov Gab: Your U.S. Government Blog] 1:45:36 PM

© Copyright 2008 Jocelyn Shaw. Last update: 12/2/2008; 6:40:35 PM. Photo curtesy of Marjorie O'Brien