Hangover

New Year's Day is a time of resolutions, of brand-new calendars and fresh starts. It's also a big day for hangovers. Tonight's popping corks and "Happy New Year" cheers can all too easily leave celebrants with a throbbing headache and a strong desire to put "no more champagne or (fill in the blank) ever again" at the top of their list of resolutions. So before it's too late, let's review some common-sense rules for celebrating. First of all, think ahead. If you're planning to party tonight, then drink extra fluids today.

The images are hard to resist: ocean breezes whispering across a condo balcony, logs crackling with flames in a mountain retreat.Lured by such visions, tens of thousands of Americans have paid billions of dollars to buy time shares -- the right to use an apartment at a resort for one or more weeks each year.For some time-share owners, however, the idyllic vacation dreams have been been tarnished by inept and sometimes criminal resort developers and managers.Surveys indicate that most timeshare owners are satisfied with their purchases, and the industry's image has improved with the entrance of several big companies, including Hilton, Marriott and Disney.

We haven't even started imbibing yet, and already most of us are preparing for that mega-huge post-holiday hangover. This is not the headache, regret and misery you get from attending too many Christmas parties or whooping it up like a holiday-happy lush. This is the headache, regret and misery you get from overindulging on gift purchases, whipping out the plastic one too many times for things you can't really afford and then realizing you have to pay that bill - with interest. I kicked the habit a few years ago, but life as a recovering overspender in the heyday of easy credit was hard.

DETROIT -- Detroit's automakers racked up another dismal month of U.S. sales, due to weaker demand for sport utility vehicles, while most foreign brands posted stronger results. General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group posted lower sales after the blockbuster results this summer, including record industry sales in July, reduced demand in the fall, officials said. "We are coming off a sales spike in June and July ... and there is a hangover effect associated with that," GM's sales and marketing analyst Paul Ballew told reporters and Wall Street analysts.

NEW YORK -- Marylanders' income growth was among the smallest of any state in the nation last year, a victim of defense cuts and a hangover left by the 1980s construction boom.Although Maryland still ranked fifth in per capita income, it sat in 45th place in income growth in 1992, recording just a 3.6 percent increase, less than the national inflation rate.The figures, released yesterday by the U.S. Department of Commerce, underscored the difficulties faced by the state as it grapples with shrinking manufacturing and construction industries.

DURHAM, N.C. -- In subfreezing weather, as Saturday became Sunday, the Rev. Will Willimon watched as Duke University students reveled around a bonfire they had fueled with campus benches."

Right up front, I must confess that I am part of the reason the Maryland Transportation Authority is considering a proposal to jack up tolls to dizzying heights. You see, I'm a parasite on the system. Have been for years. And if you, too, commute into downtown Baltimore from south of the city, you may be a freeloader, too. My daily commute from Howard County takes me up Interstate 95. I pay my way as far as Caton Avenue — in the form of gas taxes, vehicle registration fees, sales taxes and so on. But once I cross the city line, I enjoy a free ride all the way to the end of Interstate 395 at Conway Street.

TALLAHASSEE -Everybody knew it was over yesterday, but some people in the state capital made clear they weren't ready to let it go. Vice President Al Gore had already scheduled his 9 p.m. concession speech, but the Republican-dominated state Senate, in a special session yesterday to name a slate of electors for George W. Bush, scheduled a meeting for 2 p.m. today so lawmakers could analyze what Gore had to say before deciding whether to take...

Newly signed contracts for home purchases plummeted more than 30 percent in May compared with a year earlier in the Baltimore metro area, a worrisome first glimpse at how the housing market is faring without the support of an $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time buyers. Regional housing numbers released Thursday also pointed to other challenges for sellers: Average year-over-year sale prices fell nearly 3 percent, and the number of unsold homes on the market rose to an 18-month high.

Start with one part public service and stir in the creative energies of Annapolis bartenders.Add members of state and national restaurant organizations and a few local politicians. Sprinkle with equal parts of live music, other performing arts, and a lesson on celebrating -- responsibly, that is.The third annual FirstNightCap Challenge at Loews Annapolis Hotel pitted local bartenders against each other in a friendly competition to concoct the tastiest nonalcoholic beverage in Annapolis Wednesday.