Dear Colleagues, friends, and Lactnet moms. I will soon be signing off for at least 3 weeks while I travel to Australia for a series of lectures in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane. I know... this is a tough life, traveling all over just telling stories, but someone has to do it. These lectures are being sponsored by Jan Cornfoot with Capers Bookstores. One of the most wonderful things about traveling to new countries is meeting the people, so I hope that you Aussies will show up and come meet me, otherwise I will be lonely and my ego bruised (I promise to not speak of the America's Cup thing)!!!! I understand they still have room for more at these conferences. A bunch of really important speakers are going as well, Gay Palmer, Larry Gartner, and James McKenna. I was sort of an afterthough, as my major task thus far is to carry the luggage from place to place. I have been practicing a bunch, so that I won't drop Larry or Gay's as they might get angry with me. I just remembered, they didn't mention tips???? Although I will still be reading my email from time to time, I'll probably ignore most of them, as I will be chasing roos (kangaroos for us yanks) trying to get milk samples, and trying to understand these Australian idioms, such as "Take the key out of the lock" which means in American, "kicking the bucket". Where do these Aussies get such expressions !!! I'm just joking guys, I just can't wait to get out of this Texas heat and into some nice snow and meet some sweet Australian LCs. So, until mid August... Tom Hale Certified Luggage Handler Trainee, Medela Bra Fitter PS: Watch for the guy with the luggage.