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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 4, 1982)
Travel committee going global CHIA/A OR COLORADO OR A/EW ORLEMSl OR BUST parts of the Dominican Republic and will have a choice of work ing with the military, children, agriculture, business or other by Chris Hunley Battalion Reporter Students can travel from the streets of New Orleans to the slopes of Colorado with the MSC Travel Committee this year. A trip to Mardi Gras and two spring break ski trips are plan ned, plus summer trips to the People's Republic of China, the Dominican Republic and poss ibly to Trinidad. The first trip takes students to New Orleans' Mardi Gras for a weekend of celebrations on Feb. 19 through 21. Students will stay in the International Hotel on Canal Street, near the French Quarter. The $99 fee and includes bus transportation, two nights lodg ing, luggage handling, tips and tax. Students will pay for all meals, drinks and souvenirs. There are three openings left for the trip. The two ski trips during Spring Break are to Keystone and Purgatory in Colorado. The sign-up deadline for both trips is Friday. The Keystone trip leaves Col lege Station March 12 and ar rives in Keystone March 13. The group will return to College Sta tion March 19. The students will stay at Keys tone Resort Condominiums which have kitchens, fireplaces, color televisions, a swimming pool and sauna, wet bar, free shuttle to the slopes and daily maid service. The trip costs $360 and in cludes four nights lodging, one evening meal daily, four-day lift tickets for Keystone Mountain and Arapahoe Basin, round trip bus transportation and parties. Additional costs will be break fast, lunch and ski rental at $30 for four days. The Purgatory ski trip leaves College Station March 13 and re turns March 20. The trip's price is $395 and in cludes five nights lodging, five- day lift tickets and round trip bus transportation. Five buffet group breakfasts, five buffet group dinners, daily shuttle ser vice to and from the slopes and a "Get Green" Party for Saint Pat rick's Day is included. Addition al costs are ski rental at $37 for five days and lunches at the slopes. Lodging will be at the Tamar- ron Ski Condominiums which offer one- or two-bedroom un its, kitchens, night skiing, in door swimming, tennis courts, sauna and daily maid service. Next summer. Aggies will travel to the People's Republic of China and the Dominican Re public. The People's Republic of Chi na Consulate General's Office in Houston is assisting the MSC Travel Committee sponsor the trip. Tentative tour dates are May 24 through June 8. The cost is $1,990, which includes meals. lodgings, transportation and round trip airfare from the West Coast. Students must provide transportation to and from the West Coast. Former students, students, faculty and staff on the trip will be sponsored in China by the All China Students' Federation. Activities will include sight seeing and special seminars at Chinese universities. Sign-up is open through the end of Feb ruary. The Dominican Republic trip is co-sponsored by the MSC Travel Committee and the Inter national Services Office. The tentative date for the trip is July 10 through Aug. 17. Students will live in different options. Students will be chosen by ap plication and interview, based on academic excellence and leadership. The last interview session will be in the first week of March. There are 11 people signed up to go on the trip, and there is room for 15 to 20. The projected price of the Dominican Republic trip, in cluding airfare, is $800 to $1,000, depending on which program the student chooses. A mandatory training prog ram will be provided at the end of March to help the students prepare for their experiences. Also in the planning stages is a trip to Trinidad similar to the Dominican Republic trip. However, students will be paid for the work they do, with emphasis on industry and busi ness. Interested students should call 845-1515, or go by the MSC Travel Committee cubicle in the Student Programs Office, 216 MSC. Wargamers plan to fight it out by Laura Williams Battalion Staff An opportunity for people to participate in simulated science fiction and politics is what GAMERS, a sub-committee of MSC Recreation, will provide at their eighth annual WARCON this weekend. The committee, Gamers of A&M Enacting Realistic Simula tions, will give game fanatics a chance to compete with other gamers from across the nation in fantasy names such as Dungeons and Dragons, as well as political games like Diploma cy, a simulation of Europe at the turn of the century. "The key thing to remember about gaming is that you learn things from them (the games) like teamwork, growth of imagi nation, organization and war tactics," Don Gilman, chairman of the GAMERS committee, said. Gilman said the competition will begin Friday afternoon and continue around the clock through Sunday. "Last year we had some where from 500 to 600 people here ... and I expect we'll have more than that this weekend," he said. Manufacturers of games and publishers of game magazines from throughout the country also will attend the tournament, he said. "They'll be showing games— you name it, they'll have it — some of which are too long for tournaments," Gilman said. Registration for WARCON will begin at 3 p.m. Friday in 201 Memorial Student Center. Gam ers will pay a $3 base fee plus a fee for each event entered. Teriyaki Beef Combos Hawaiian Chicken Main Mahi Prime Rib Salad Bar Featuring the Great Alaskan King Crab Feast every Sun. -Tues. for 6.95 liconV lorf Open every evening at 5 p.m. 2500 Texas Ave., 693-5113. Gilman said the committee tional Gamers Convention that hopes to use the money to send be held in Boston this some of its members to the Na- summer. Spike could be a spiteful dog by Pam Barta Battalion Reporter An owner who names his dog Stinky may be saying more ab out his image or expectations for the pet than he realizes, a Texas A&M veterinary anatomist says. "A person has an image of a pet they want," Dr. Bonnie Beaver said. Beaver has pre sented a symposium on the effect of pet names on pet per sonality. An adult may name a pet according to the expectations he has for the pet, Beaver said, and sometimes those are unrealistic. Owners may give pets hu man names, and the pet becom es "like a person to them," Beav er said. The pet also could be a child substitute for some own ers, she added, and this is usual ly reflected in names like Baby and Sweetie. Owners who give their pets "quality" names, like King and Colonel, indicate that they want the pet to have a certain ele gance, Beaver said, and animals bought for protection are given names like Killer or Tiger. Many people purchase anim als for reasons other than com panionship, she said, and give them derogatory names like Stinky or Stupid. And there's al ways that humourous owner who names his St. Bernard "Tiny." This is the owner, Beav er said, who "likes the dog for being a dog." Beaver said problems some times develop when a pet doesn't live up to the owner's expectations. Owners believe that they can train an animal to fulfill their expectations, she said, and end up training the animal to do something they don't want or didn't intend for them to do. Owners don't have the control over their pets that they think they have, Beaver added. One problem in studying owner attitudes toward pets is that no composite of an average owner exists, while there is a composite of an average cat or dog. So instead, Beaver said, animal behaviorists try to look at the reasons why the owner has the pet. In the United States more than half the homes have a pet, Beaver said. She owns six pets of her own and named them de scriptively for different charac teristics that each possesses. Among her pets are a dog named Satch and cats named David Graybeard, Big Red and Spike.