Strong showings in doubles competition, including a victory over an opponent from a major conference, was one of the promising spots from this past weekend's Met Collegiate Indoor Invitational hosted by Rice University.The duo of sophomore Kriegler Brink and freshman Mike Donovan were able to pull off an 8-4 win against a Clemson team.

Although the team would fall the next day in the round of 16 to Southern Mississippi, 9-7, head coach Dave Borelli said the team has a major upside to its individual games, Donovan said.

Woes on the court continue for the Horned Frogs (10-7, 2-3 conference) as they are facing a three-game losing streak in Mountain West Conference play.Saturday night, the Frogs' ball-handling problems left them in a bind as the UNLV Rebels (16-4, 3-2 conference) scored 36 of their 75 points off TCU turnovers. Dribbling mishaps and heavy pressure from the Rebels' defense ended up being a cancer to the Frogs' offense.

The Rebels managed to score 20 first-half points off turnovers, leaving the Frogs at an 11-point deficit before retreating to the tunnel at halftime.

The Flying Frogs had a soaring performance at the Razorback Invitational indoor track meet last weekend in Arkansas.Returning to Fayetteville, Ark., for the second weekend in a row, individual athletes of the Frogs performed at their best.

Training for the meet was minimal due to last week's weather, but even with a sparse practice schedule, the Frogs were able to get light workouts in, head coach Darryl Anderson said.

"During the bad weather, we had the little things to look forward to in practice," Anderson said.

With the new year in full swing, many orders of business fall upon our shoulders. Aside from resolutions we may not keep and weather predictions from a groundhog, the heaviest of those orders are high-fashion handbags.A fashion accessory trend that began with designer labels and recognizable patterns has snowballed into a larger-than-life craze. Handbags that used to designate an extreme awareness of fashion, such as Dooney & Bourke and Coach, are now worn by a large number of women.

The Abraham Center of Life in San Antonio is fueling a debate on the ethical issues surrounding the "design" of babies for would-be parents seeking a child when unable to do so naturally, according to ABC News. The center allows parents to choose the physical traits and even personality of the donors, which means if a client wants a brown-haired, green-eyed female child, they can receive just that.

When she came to TCU, Laura Barbee was uncertain how long her stay would be.Dealing with her father's recent death, Barbee and her family thought she may need to take some time off from school. This all changed when she received the Nordan Fine Arts Award Scholarship.

This weekend, TCU dancers will compete once again for the Nordan Award which, if they win, could give them $8,000 to $10,000 per year toward their TCU educations.

The award was established by Lester Nordan and his wife in 1965. Nordan received an honorary law degree from TCU in 1964.

Soon, upperclassmen will be able to participate in a new on-campus housing program that will group them with students of similar interests.TCU Residential Services will launch the "Living Learning Communities" program February in the dorms.

The program will allow students to select an interest they share with other students and group them in the same wing of their residence hall.

Undergraduate students can now receive grants for projects supporting community service, thanks to a growing service-learning program at TCU.Mark Dunleavy, a junior physics major, received $500 this semester to fund a physics olympics program for local high schools.

The olympics, in its second year, is coordinated by TCU's Society of Physics Students and will expose high school students to experiments and presentations in the sciences.

Much like a sherpa guides climbers up a mountain, an executive coach helps employees with leadership skills for the workplace. That was the idea authors Brenda Corbett and Judith Colemon had when they wrote "The Sherpa Guide: The Process-Driven Executive Coaching," said Deb Baker, director of executive development for Tandy Hall.

The authors of the book developed a course that teaches consultants, executives and human resource professionals how to become better leaders, Baker said.