What was going on when I was born?

The first appointments of Ronald Reagan's administration were announced today, and key transition officials said work would begin Monday to select no fewer than three names to be considered for each Cabinet post. The Reagan camp announced in Washington and Los Angeles that, as expected, the President-elect's new chief of staff at the White House would be James A. Baker 3d, a 50-year-old former aide to President Ford and Vice President-elect George Bush. Also announced was the appointment of Edwin Meese 3d as counselor to the President with Cabinet rank. As explained by Mr. Reagan's aides, Mr. Baker is to direct the functions of the White House staff, including Congressional relations, administration, press relations and the White House personnel office.

As part of a 10-year citywide bridge rehabilitation program, New York City plans to replace the thousands of steel cables on the Brooklyn Bridge, where two cables snapped Sunday, city officials said yesterday. The $115 million program will virtually overhaul the bridge as it enters its second century, and will devote nearly $100 million to each of the three other major East River crossings - the Manhattan, Queensboro and Williamsburg Bridges. The plans were on the boards, the officials said, well before the cables broke on Sunday evening, critically injuring a man walking across the bridge and closing it to traffic for three hours. The city Transportation Commissioner, Anthony R. Ameruso, called the program, which is already under way, ''the largest bridge rehabilitation program in the country.''

AFOREBODING silence hangs over the respiratory-care unit at Bridgeport Hospital these days. All eight of the neatly made beds lie empty. The floor gleams, no longer scuffed and soiled by regular traffic, Because of an acute nursing shortage in the state and the entire country - the American Nurses' Association estimates that by 1982 there will be a nationwide shortage of 100,000 nurses -the four-yearold facility has been locked for the last three months. Thousands of dollars of advanced and complex life-saving equipment -meant to treat emphysema, pneumonia, chronic bronchitis and lung cancer - lies idle. Even regular care is being stretched tissue-thin. Late on a recent Wednesday afternoon Judy Kozlowski, a senior staff nurse at Bridgeport Hospital, arrived for evening duty as the only registered nurse covering 32 medical-surgical beds on the seventh floor. She would be assisted by one licensed practical nurse and two nurse's aides.

It seems like only months ago that gold and silver prices were climbing to new peaks daily and that investors, eager to profit on the explosion, were lining up across the country to buy those precious metals at almost any price. But it is all different now. ''There are no crowds at the gold counters,'' said George Parola, office manager at Deak-Perera's precious metals outlet on Fifth Avenue. ''People are now lining up in droves to take advantage of the strong dollar.''

The effort to rebuild the Democratic Party on the rubble of its crushing electoral defeats last Tuesday has begun with an intense focus on the future of John C. White, the party's national chairman. As an aide to Senator Edward M. Kennedy put it, ''a blizzard of names'' are being discussed for the chairmanship, but Mr. White contends that he could unify the party by staying on, at least for a time, and that he has the votes to be re-elected if he decides to run. However, it is uncertain whether he could do so without a fight that would set off the 1984 nomination race with a prematurely bloody start. A source close to the thinking of Senator Kennedy said today that ''the idea of White's staying on is not acceptable.''

Prime Minister Menachem Begin being greeted in Tel Aviv. Shimon Peres, left, Labor Party leader, during quiet moment on beach. News analysis, page A10.

Secretary of State Edmund S. Muskie has proposed to President Carter that the United States increase, to about $900 million, the amount of grain that could be sold to Poland in 1980-81 on Government-backed credits, Administration officials said today. This recommendation, which officials said was recently sent to the White House, evolved in the course of intense discussions within the Administration after Poland submitted a request that some aides said amounted to $3 billion in low-interest loans over a three-year period. This request was considered too large to be weighed seriously by an Administration with only two more months in office. In September, the President announced that $670 million in credits would be made available to Warsaw. The latest proposal was aimed at showing continued American backing for Poland, which has undergone serious economic dislocations, worsened by a wave of strikes last summer.

Georgia Tech, despite having its worst season in 46 years, had one of the biggest days in its 89 years of football today when it ended Notre Dame's chances for a perfect season by achieving a 3-3 tie with the undefeated Irish. The Yellow Jackets, who probably pushed Notre Dame from the No. 1 spot in the weekly wire-service polls, came close to scoring one of the season's most shocking victories on the strength of Johnny Smith's 39-yard field goal in the second quarter. But Harry Oliver of Notre Dame, who missed a 27-yard field-goal attempt in the second period, booted a 47-yard field goal with 4 minutes 44 seconds remaining that saved the Irish from total embarrassment and at least kept them from suffering their first loss. Now Georgia, ranked No. 2 behind Notre Dame in the Associated Press and United Press International polls last week, is the only undefeated and untied major college team. Georgia was 10th and Notre Dame third in last week's New York Times computer ranking, with Nebraska on top.

President Carter, discussing his personal plans in a subdued, almost melancholy appearance in the White House press room, said today that he would return to Plains, Ga., next Jan. 20 to write his memoirs and ''live the life of a former President.'' ''I intend to become a very good fly fisherman,'' he said with a rueful smile. Asked at one point if he had any advice to Excerpts from conference, page B10. give to President-elect Ronald Reagan, the President paused for several seconds and then shook his head, explaining with a small smile, ''I had a lot more advice'' to give ''when I came in than I have going out.''

The Diamond Shamrock Corporation, whose stock has been trading heavily recently because of takeover rumors, announced yesterday that it was negotiating to sell two of its businesses. The company also denied that it was engaged in any merger discussions. In what was described as a continuing effort to redeploy assets, W.H. Bricker, the chairman and chief executive officer, said that talks were under way to sell Diamond Shamrock's plastics and animal nutrition businesses, now operated as parts of other divisions.

Most oil industry officials regard significantly increased access to federally owned lands as an absolute necessity if there is to be any hope of arresting the decline in domestic production that began in the early 1970's. This, according to Jerry McAfee, chairman of the Gulf Oil Corporation, and others attending the annual meeting of the American Petroleum Institute, which ended today, is probably the main issue between the industry and the Government. There were also hopes that President-elect Ronald Reagan and the new Republican Senate leaders could be persuaded to amend the tax on ''windfall'' oil profits to make more money available for oilfield investment. Industry Expecting Shift Unlike the past half-dozen meetings of the American Petroleum Institute, the recurring industry theme was one of optimism that, with Mr. Reagan's election, the main battleground would gradually shift from Government regulatory agencies and Congressional hearing rooms to the actual lands and waters where oil executives say as much new oil and gas is still to be found as the country has already consumed.

One of the most sought-after cable television franchises in the nation, covering 10 Fairfield County towns, was awarded today to Cablevision of Connecticut, two years after 10 companies applied for it. The franchise covers the so-called ''Gold Coast'' towns of Greenwich, Stamford, Norwalk, Darien, Westport, New Canaan, Wilton, Weston, Redding and Easton, an area of 120,000 households. It was fought for fiercely because residents there are able to afford and are expected to buy the extra cable services - first-run movies, for example - for which extra fees are charged. The contenders included subsidiaries of Time Inc., UA-Columbia Cablevision Inc., Cox Broadcasting Corporation and Storer Broadcasting Company. The Department of Public Utilities Control held 80 days of hearings before settling on Cablevision, which was a compromise choice by the five commissioners.