New Year

First-grader Lauren Bryant's New Year's resolution is to lose her two front baby teeth. Michael Heck, 6, plans to stop sucking his thumb, while 4-year-old Mikai James of Randallstown is determined to devote more time to his Christmas toys. Alas, these goal-oriented kids are the exception. Most of the hundreds of children who rang in 2007 early at Port Discovery's eighth Noontime New Year's party yesterday were resolved to do nothing more than push, pull, slide, swing and hammer on as many hands-on exhibits as possible, before weary parents dragged them away.

Here it is, the last weekend of the summer. My husband and vTC daughter have returned from Milwaukee, my sister, niece and nephew from Belgium. We're all together, ready to begin a new year.It's odd, this business of new years. Long out of school myself, I still orient my calendar around a September beginning.Jan. 1 always seemed an arbitrary date to begin anything. Gardeners begin their year in April, Supreme Court justices in October, Muslims after Ramadan, the federal government in October.

It was nearly noon, not midnight, and the ball that hung three stories high looked more like a cross between a pinata and a helium balloon than the giant one in Times Square that grown-ups have come to know and love. But to a crowd of more than 1,900 - many sporting tutus, face glitter and brightly colored party hats - the setting at the Maryland Science Center could not have been more perfect for ringing in the New Year, kid-style. It was the second annual Midnight Noon, a bash the museum calls a New Year's celebration for those whose bedtime happens long before the ball in Times Square makes its descent, and all the right people were excited.

WASHINGTON -- The nation will face its first New Year's Eve on high "orange" alert tonight and cities across the country are increasing security at large celebrations. In New York, where thousands traditionally gather to watch the famous ball drop at Times Square, an unprecedented security effort will include snipers on rooftops, twice as many metal detectors as last year, and helicopters flying above the crowd. Holiday revelers in New York will encounter an enormous law enforcement presence including mounted police, plainclothes officers mixed in the crowd, and heavily armed officers known as the "Hercules" team.

Faithful readers, it is that time of year again! The day when we make promises to ourselves that we would actually keep if we made them to anyone else. It is time for New Year's resolutions, and this year I have called upon my social media tools - Facebook, Twitter, blogs, websites, email, text messages and YouTube - to see what the world perceives its failings to be and how to correct them. As a vehicle for self-improvement, New Year's resolutions are a poor choice and a miserable failure.

A new year. A clean slate. A time for toting up the pluses and minuses of the just-completed pass around the sun and predicting the contents of the balance sheet during the next orbit. A time for celebrations and resolutions. In essence, a time for time. In some ways, it is completely arbitrary and capricious. There is no start/finish line in the circular track that the Earth runs each year, no celestial being standing in the assigned spot, waving a checkered flag and firing a starting gun at the same time.

Today is the day when people open their doors to guests for a New Year's visit. This custom is one of my favorites because it allows me the chance to drop by Baltimore's great treasure, its character-filled homes. (I guess some people watch TV today, but that's my idea of a stiff jail sentence.) When I speak of household character, I mean both the humans and the walls within which they reside. This is a city of remarkable residences. The neat trick is to gain entry with a New Year's Day invitation.

All over the world, the new year comes in with a bang. Bells toll the 12 strokes of midnight. People hammer pots and pans, blow whistles, toot horns and set off firecrackers. The racket is not just a group of revelers carried away by the euphoria of the moment. Ancient people believed loud noises would drive away evil spirits.Ensuring that good luck will be abundant during the coming months lies at the heart of New Year's celebrations. Perhaps the best method is to surround yourself with allies willing to help you accomplish your objectives.

A trio of annual Baltimore events - Artscape, the book festival and the New Year's celebration at the Inner Harbor - generated an estimated $36 million in economic benefits during the past year, according to the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts. The estimate, to be released Monday, is part of a more sophisticated effort to attract additional corporate sponsors and justify continued public subsidies for the events. "The impact [of the three events], regionally, is huge," said Bill Gilmore, executive director of BOPA, a private, nonprofit organization that works exclusively for the city.

IT TAKES neither genie nor wise man to be wary of coming attractions this January.In this new year, may sane and sensible minds in the Senate accede to the urging -- no, the demands -- of the American people who desperately desire a quick end to the national nightmare called impeachment. Otherwise, it is going to be a long, cold winter and national discontent may reach the boiling point.The first major event of January, the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton impacts the month's second important congressional attraction -- President Clinton's State of the Union Address.