I want to wish a very Happy New Year to everyone out there! Hope your holidays were as fun and relaxing as mine were. Alas, I yet again did not receive the pony I had been asking for, but there's always next year...

The first of the new year brings along with it new laws and a hike in the price of US Postage stamps. A book of 1st class stamps will no longer run you $6.66, but rather $7.02. For the mathematically challenged, that's a 2 cent price hike per stamp.

Other new laws going into effect as of Jan 1:

- In California, drivers under the age of 18 can no longer be on the road after 11pm
- In Maryland, operators of golf carts must now pay a bi-annual fee of $97 to operate their vehicles
- In North Carolina, fees given out by HOAs to homeowners who violate rules have been lowered from $150 to $100 a day
- In California, internet sites designed to allow people to shoot at animal via the net have been outlawed
- In Illinois, fines increase for those caught improperly parking in disabled parking spaces to $500
- In Texas, jurors will now get paid $40 per day. Prior to 2006 they were paid $6 per day.
- In Connecticut, the minimum wage changes from $7.10 to $7.40...then to $7.65 per hour in 2007
- In New York, if you make between $150,000 - $500,000, your taxes will drop from 7.25% to 6.85%
- In Minnesota, sex offenders can no longer loiter or live within 1000 feet of a school safety zone