This is a swell mailing list.

Thank you to everyone kind enough to respond to my request for help in
learning how to pronounce shell names.  It's taken me this long to respond
because of my schedule, the idiotic cumbersome voice-recognition software
that I use to write, and the weather.  The one chance I had to take the time
to really read the Conch-L mail and respond was during a day of impressive
thunderstorms.  Every time I thought the weather was clearing and headed
towards my computer, there'd be another hellacious thunderclap that would set
off car alarms all over the neighborhood and send the cats flying under the
bed.

Yes, I'm going to start joining shell clubs.  What's more, I'm scheduled to
be in Austin in June and have a two-day overlap with the COA convention in
Houston.  So, hey, how can I resist?  Also, I will look into these
shell-collecting trips.  They sound like great fun.

I also discovered an interactive CD companion to the Paul Humann Reef
Creature Identification guide.  Granted, mollusks make up only a portion of
the critters covered, but learning to pronounce the ones on the CD will
probably jump start my ability to wrap my mouth around other scientific names.

Ellen