For the New Year's resolutions stories, there are the usual experts who are consulted for advice about losing weight and getting in shape. Worthy goals, certainly, but Weight Watchers isn't all that 1998 will be about, will it? This column had a few other questions for the experts.

Asked of Brian Lurie, owner of A Yuppie Pawn Shop in Kirkland: When that inevitable downsizing hits, which consumer goods that he ran up on his credit cards can Mr. Yuppie hock the easiest with you?

"Well, a Rolex watch is great. Depending on the model, I'd loan $200 to $5,000 on it. But your motorcycle is always welcome here. I just lent $4,000 on a Harley. Honda Goldwings are great, too. They'll get $2,000 to $5,000 or $7,000. More in the real world, we like mountain bikes here, and for those you're talking anywhere between $100 to $500. Guitars are welcome, too, Gibsons and Fenders, for $100 to $400. Snowboards, for $30 to $100. And your Nintendo 64. We have people calling all day long wanting them. We'll give $30 to $50 for a Nintendo. And, of course, your CD collection, at $2 a CD. But no rap CDs. Nobody is listening to rap anymore. They want country and Western, easy-listening stuff."

Asked of Ed Rozcicha, owner of Benton's Jewelers in the University District: Let's say you're a young guy who wants to impress a young woman friend with a jewelry gift. But you don't know anything about the stuff, plus, maybe you're a college type and your budget is tight. Any suggestions?

"Know what anybody 18 to 28 is going crazy for? Sterling silver. You can get a sterling silver ring for maybe $10 to $25, necklaces for maybe $10 to $35. It's only after they're 30 that they're getting into the big guns and want gold."

Asked of Tim Pearson, manager of automotive services for AAA Washington: I'm thinking of buying a used car and know nothing about how they run. Even before I spend $50 for a diagnostic at a garage, what are things to watch out for?

"Look at the car in the sunlight, to see if it's the wrong shade of color. That could mean the body was repaired. Look at the body panels, see if the doors align right, look at the seams in the trunk and hood. If the car had been hit and then repaired, there usually is a gap at one end or the other. Open the hood, look to see if the engine was just steam cleaned or pressure washed. The engine can look dirty. That's OK, it's an engine. But if it had been washed, why? Also look if the engine is wet or black. That could be an oil leak that was sprayed around when the engine was running. Look at the odometer, make sure the digits all line up. Obviously, the last digit can be a little higher than the others, but if three digits are higher, that could mean the odometer was altered."

Asked of Herb Shepard, president of the Poggie Club, one of the area's oldest hobby fishing organizations: I don't know much about catching a salmon. Me and a buddy can rent ourselves a motor boat and the fishing rods. OK, now we're wandering around Elliott Bay. Tell us what to do so we catch something other than dogfish.

"Watch the water surface, and look for feeding birds. They're predator birds going for a school of herring. The salmon also will be feeding on that bait. Troll around the edge of the feeding birds. If you go through the school of bait, you'll spook everybody. At this time of year, I'd use an 8-foot salmon leader, a 4-ounce weight and No. 1 or No. 2 hooks. I'd troll at 2 to 3 knots, which is kind of like a slow walk."

Asked of Gene Ford, the Seattle producer of "Gene Ford's One-Hour Wine Expert" video: What kind of wine can I get for $10 at my Safeway that'll impress even a finicky connoisseur? Also, what's an easy way to spot somebody who claims to be a wine expert but is mostly a phony?

"On the first question, buy a Washington state wine. It's underpriced, with the best cost ratio of any high-quality wine in the nation. Washington wines are a bargain compared to California ones. Did you know that Eastern Washington has more sunshine in the summertime than California? Plus, the soil is excellent for wine grapes and they can get irrigation water from the Columbia River, so they can control the water by just turning a faucet. In California, sometimes in August the rains come with a fury, and that causes mildew and rot. We've got ideal conditions here, along with great experimental enthusiasm by young people who started wineries 25 years ago. In another 20 years or 40 years we'll be Napa North.

"On the second question, you can spot a wine phony if they're having cigars with their wine. A serious wine guy would never do that, feeling it'd sully the taste. Port wine or brandy is about the only thing that can stand up to a cigar."

Asked of Sanford Kreisberg, founder of the Cambridge Essay Service in Cambridge, Mass., who for $60 to $150 helps draft college application essays: What would you tell a high school kid struggling with that all-important paper that could mean rejection or acceptance to a university?

"Small is better than big. Keep it local, meaning keep the essay personal and close to home. Write about something you know about. Avoid `big thoughts' because that's generic. Write the essay that only you can write, with facts, characters and ideas that only you know about."

Asked of Mike Tomkins, a Seattle attorney with a half-page ad in the Yellow Pages with the headline "ACCIDENT INJURIES" in 1-inch-high letters, along with the slogan "We serve coffee, not espresso": Mike, give some free advice to somebody injured in a fender-bender. Also, what's with the coffee slogan?

"Remember that the details will kill you. So they better be right. Let's say you go see the doctor and say that you can't lift a fruit basket anymore. He puts down, `fruit cartons,' and nobody cares. Except that when it's two years later, and you're in court, and they're saying that you hurt your back lifting fruit cartons, and now you have to go through the song and dance that you never said that. And the jury is going, `Well, why did the doctor write it down?' Or maybe the doctor put down the impact speed was 15 miles an hour instead of 35 miles an hour. What's he care? He just wants you to get better.

"But you should care what the doctor wrote down. You say, `May I see your notes?' Either he'll get angry because he thinks you're misjudging him, or he'll say, `Sure, I want to be as accurate as you want me to be.'

"Juries are not going to believe you're hurt because the insurance companies have brainwashed us. Through billions in advertising they've changed public sentiment about personal injury recovery. About my coffee slogan, that's because I'm there for Mr. Blue Collar who doesn't have a brother who's a senior partner in some law firm."

We hope our experts were of some help as 1998 begins.

Oh, we did have another question we asked the experts. And the answer is, Whatever it was you were wondering about, Bill Gates soon will own that, too.

Erik Lacitis' phone number is 206-464-2237. His e-mail address is: elac-new@seatimes.com

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