Well, that was fun.
I just bid on Ebay.
I was after a Risc PC; a "brand new boxed" Risc PC, put up for auction by an Ex-Pace Ex-Acorn employee who bought them at the staff sale at the close down of the Acorn office. It was looking like a good price, it sat on £256 for about a week. Of course, one expects a bit of activity towards the end, so this is when I planned to make my move.
Also up for sale, by the same person for the same reasons, were a couple of network cards, a 586 card (a Risc PC is a formidable machine; one of many spectacular things it features is the ability to have two processors - a StrongARM for RISC OS, and a pentium for whatever else you want to do with it) and the 5th volume of the PRM. Now, thinking 'Hey, if I have a Risc PC, I'll need to get it on the network', I decided to bid on one of the NICs (they were at £25 and £31), and while I was at it, I thought I'd go for the 5x86 card. No idea what I'd do with it if I won it, but, hell, it was only £22 and I needed to practice using Ebay before I bid on the big one.
So, I woke up at about 10:30, had a shower, got dressed, said hi to Tristan's mum (who's over from America) ate some toast and settled down to mentally prepare myself for the bidding. And, since I know you are all fascinated by the minutiae of my life, the rest of my day has gone something like this:
| 12:37:49 | I bid £26 on the first NIC |
| 12:39:25 | I bid £22 on the 5x86 |
| 12:45:00 | Re-state my assumptions. |
| 12:45:07 | I can barely contain my excitement, and strike up a conversation with Andrew about my imminent financial return to the world of RISC OS, since he lives in Cambridge, and can entertain me when I go up and get my RISC PC. |
| 14:59:18 | First up is the NIC, it's going to end in 5 minutes, at 15:04:18. I'm refreshing the page every few seconds in excited anticipation |
| 15:00:14 | Alfred Papst outbids me with £27.01. I decide to let them have their fun. |
| 15:03:06 | Someone outbids Alfred Papst with a bid of £28. Poor Alfred. |
| 15:03:51 | Poor Alfred indeed. He's not taking this lying down, and bids £29 |
| 15:03:55 | I bid £30 |
| 15:04:18 | I win the auction! Mwhahahahahahah, poor Alfred. SUCKER! |
| 15:19:55 | I'm still going 'Yay!' a lot at people on TR, Honeycomb, ICQ and MSN after mercilessly crushing Alfred, when I remember the 5x86 card, which will end at 15:21:48. I click the link |
| 15:19:57 | I'm still winning this thing with £22. Someone's going to outbid me, right? |
| 15:20:24 | Seriously, someone's going to outbid me? Please? I've already got 14 PCs, wtf do I want with a 5x86 card? |
| 15:21:48 | I win the 5x86 card. I am overjoyed. |
| 15:40:00 | I watch the RISC PC price stick at £256. I am getting very excited. |
| 15:40:01 | I realise how much it would suck to win the auction for a NIC and a processor card for a RISC PC, and not to win the RISC PC itself |
| 15:45:55 | 6 minutes and 35 seconds until the end of the auction, and someone bids £350. This takes it above the price I was hoping to pay (£300-£350). Still, I'm prepared to bid £360 at the last moment. |
| 15:50:03 | Someone bids £400. OOOkay. My top price is £440 here. Little too close for comfort. |
| 15:51:07 | Someone bids £420. Calm down, y'hear me? |
| 15:51:29 | Someone bids £450. Bless |
| 15:50:55 | Someone bids £460. Asshole. I give up. |
| 15:51:30 | One minute to go. I decide 'Meh, it's only £20 above my top limit, I'll go for it' |
| 15:52:00 | Yeah, I mean I really want this. 30 seconds left, plenty of time. |
| 15:52:17 | 13 seconds left. I type in £465 |
| 15:52:18 | I press the 'bid' button |
| 15:52:22 | I'm still waiting for my page to load |
| 15:52:26 | WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE BIDDING INCREMENT IS £10?!?!?!? WTF?! |
| 15:52:31 | I bid £470. £30 above my limit. |
| 15:52:30 | Bid closes. |
| 15:52:32 | I stare at the screen in disbelief at my stupidity. |
| 16:30:00 | I stare at the screen in disbelief at my stupidity. I lost. |
| 17:16:27 | I stare at the screen in disbelief at my stupidity. I lost. I can't believe I lost. I've just spent £52 on a goddam network card and a processor for a RISC PC, only I don't have a RISC PC to put them in. |
| 17:16:27 | I'll write a diary entry. That'll cheer me up. |
| 17:29:55 | HOLY CRAP, I JUST WASTED MY WHOLE FREAKIN DAY AND I HAVE THREE EXAMS NEXT WEEK THAT I HAVENT STARTED REVISING FOR! I AM SO SCREWED! |
| 17:29:56 | Oooh, vice city |
So there you go. That was fun wasn't it.
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Muppet!
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