Aquarionics

Spare Cycles

Okay, New interface coded. Plus sides: I can now use any Blogger API app to post to it. Downsides: I can't use any Blogger API app to edit it, because the "Generally accepted" API definition (Which includes helpful things, like a title attribute to posts) doesn't appear to be completely documented anywhere. Also, I'm waiting for the next version of Simon's IXR library, which will fix a known issue, allowing me to send stuff back in exactly the same way as the Blogger implementation does. However, right now Powerblog hates me, and keeps crashing.

Have I scared everyone off yet?

I only ask because the flood of comments seems to have stopped, just as I was getting used to it... :-)

So, today I bought a bike, as promised.

There are three ways to do something like this. You can either read up every word on the latest trends, thoughts, scams and makes, or you can take a friend who knows this sort of thing along, or you can do what I did, which is to pick a salesperson in the middle of the January Sales and say "I'd like to buy a $foo, but I've no idea what type". They will SYN/ACK on this and start firing packets of data at you, which you have to decode, assemble and process at the same time, requesting resending of packets where appropriate, normally ending in @items, from which you chose an appropriate item based on the information in the packet stream. The important point is the packet stream. If you attempt to interrupt it - as most customers who claim not to know anything will do - with ah, the ${technical data}, I've heard of that, isn't that the $item that will <#include "bullshit.h">. At which point, any sensible salesperson gets a Ceramic Tea Holding Object alert, and will -9 the sales pitch in favour of <#include "ahh_sir_is_an_\*informed\*_customer.h">. Because I display geek traits, my reaction is more to listen, so now I know where British built frames are superior, why they sell what they sell, and why it's half price, not to mention the differences between the .jp and .us twist-grip gears. Sometimes, just listening to the salesperson and agreeing with them will get you a discount. So I did this, wandered around the bikes, listened to the spiel, then bought the blue one.

Go on, be surprised, I dare you.

But I bought the blue one that the salesperson told me was the best - but not most expensive - of the range. No, it wasn't the cheapest, but if I wanted a bike that would fall apart between here and work, I'd have bought one with amusingly detachable handlebars.