protected void applyCommonProperties(HttpParams in, HttpMethod toCall) {
        // common ops
        if (in.headers != null) {
            for (Entry<String, String> e : in.headers.entrySet()) {
                toCall.addRequestHeader(e.getKey(), e.getValue());
            }
        }
        // we handle our own retries
        toCall.getParams().setParameter(HttpMethodParams.RETRY_HANDLER, new DefaultHttpMethodRetryHandler(0, false));
        if (StringUtils.isBlank(in.userAgent) == false && toCall.getRequestHeader(USER_AGENT_HEADER) == null) {
            toCall.setRequestHeader(USER_AGENT_HEADER, in.userAgent);
        }
        else if (toCall.getRequestHeader(USER_AGENT_HEADER) == null) {
            toCall.setRequestHeader(USER_AGENT_HEADER, userAgent);
        }
    }