After receiving the Peter Beardsley photo midweek I have now started actively pursuing a fourth trade. I emailed a football club who Peter played for during his career and they have written back asking me to put my request for a fourth trade with them in writing. This is a good start and I hope it leads somewhere.

I thought other good places to go with this trade would be supporters' associations and unofficial websites of clubs he played for. If you have any other ideas of how I might drum up a fourth trade then give me a comment on this post. Cheers.

I have taken the next week off work so I can get a lot of the house that I have been renovating with my Wife decorated and finished off. I also want to start thinking about my new life as an academic; it is very exciting.

The rate at which I am adding new countries has slowed down significantly in the last few weeks, I am up to 40 now with the last entries being Bulgaria and Estonia. I expected it to slow down and I am very pleased that I have attracted the attentions of people from 40 different countries.

All in all, I am very happy with my progress so far and if I can keep this rate of increase in both the daily readers and the trades then I should have a great item to trade in 14 months time.

Thank you to everyone who comes back day after day you are really making this worthwhile.

The Peter Beardsley Signed Photo provided by SoccerBid.co.uk has arrived!!!

Three days ago I got a note to say that an envelope was waiting for me in my local Post Office, but it could be collected until yesterday, so here it is.

It is 8 inches by 6 inches (20 cm x 15 cm) and has a biography on the back. See below:

It also comes with a certificate of authenticity to prove that it actually was signed by Peter Beardsley in the presence of officiators.

You can see my biography of Peter Beardsley from when I first announced the trade here.

This is a great item for trading potential as he is very fondly remembered throughout Liverpool and Newcastle and as an excellent England player.

If you or someone you know wants this item then please trade with me. All monies raised at the end of this trading game go directly to GUCH and I have their full support in doing this.

So, now I have got my fourth trade its time for you to get thinking of items you can trade with me.

Since I started this blog I have greatly increased my knowledge of congenital heart disorders. I often see a phrase or an abreviation that I don't understand and look it up in my favourite web resource; Wikipedia.

I started to share these findings on this blog with the publication of my first discovery but went no further. I will continue this series now with my second lesson in Congenital Heart Defects.

Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome

This is a very rare heart defect but it is very serious. The left hand side of the heart does not form correctly and the right hand side has to do all of the work, pushing blood through a Patent Ductus Arteriosus; but as we know from our first lesson, the Patent Ductus Arteriosus closes just a few days after birth.

As the PDA closes the blood flow is severely restricted and the baby becomes very ill very quickly. Fortunately the PDA can be kept open for a short while using a hormone called Prostagladin. The heart can either be operated on or transplanted depending on the severity of the condition.

In western countries this condition is picked up rapidly enough for corrective procedures to be undertaken but often the sufferer will experience health problems throughout their life as a result; patients must also be seen by a cardiologist throughout their lives to check on their heart.

I handed my notice in at work today!!!

My job, which I have never written about before, was Safety Case Consultant for a nuclear based company. It was my part of my job to write reports on how safe nuclear facilities are both in England and in the rest of the world.

I decided that I would like to move into academia as it would be a much bigger challenge mentally but it would also give me a much more flexible work-life. I have chosen a PhD in Chemical Vapour Depostion and I start in around a months time. I really can't wait.

I was very nervous today about actually handing my notice in today even though I had been dreaming about how great it would be for the past week. But I did it and it felt very liberating. I have been walking around with a big smile on my face all day.

In some ways I will miss having a structured work-life, you always knew were you were and what was expected of you but I will also enjoy having to make more of my own decisions about my work.

Wow, I dugg myself.

Thank you Rose for adding my story to Digg. If you are not sure what Digg is I'll explain a little.

Digg is a up-and-coming news portal where the stories are voted for by the readers; it means that only the stories that are actually of interest to you and me and not some political editor are listed at the top.

Each article gets dugg by the members if they like it or buried if they don't. The overall score shows how high you appear in the news. The article about this blog has so far got 8 diggs, which I think is pretty good for little old me.

I think that we can get it much higher if all my readers were to go and digg it for me. Then people who wouldn't normally have discovered this blog will find it and hopefully keep coming back.

Use this link to digg the story about this blog, its free and easy to sign up and I guarantee that you will keep using it as it is one of the web's best resources.

Cheers.

OK Guys, I'm back - still feeling a little ill but made all the happier by the news that the signed photo is on its way to me.

Yes, that's right the signed photo of Peter Beardsley provided by SoccerBid.co.uk is winging its way to me by snail mail and should be here in the next couple of days.

Normal service shall resume from today and I will be updating my list of other CHD support groups with all of the suggestions I have received over the last week (believe me, there's been a lot!).