Minimal

Tomorrow, along with a few friends, I head off to Snowdonia for a week of walking, gaming and mulling (of wine). It hadn’t escaped my attention, of course, that we’ll be in the middle of some great driving roads too. Figuring I’d do quick bit of research to see how far we are from one particular bit of tarmac, it looks like I’ve hit the jackpot — we’re right on the doorstep of the evo triangle!

That might not mean much to you, but to any fanatical reader of said motoring magazine, the triangle is legendary. While they’ve always been a little coy as to its precise location, they’ve done countless road tests there and raved about the wide range of challenges it offers. Can’t wait to see it for myself. :)

Speaking of evo, I don’t suppose you know anyone who wants to buy the last 5 years’ issues, including cover DVDs? I was thinking of brightening up a few dentists’ waiting rooms with them, but if they can go to a good home and I can make a quick buck in the process...

Not long back, I waxed lyrical about Carcassonne, a great little board game. I considered it the perfect game for getting people back into board games, as it’s quick and simple to play, but with enough strategy to engage you properly. I’m starting to tire of it a little now, though, and I’ve got a new favourite. While it might sound like ass-kissing, given that its designer is a good friend, I can’t get enough of Border Reivers.

Although Reivers is a more strategic game than Carcassonne, I like it for the same sort of reason: it’s well balanced. There are many strategies that can lead to a win, so you never feel like you’re stuck in a losing position. Designed for 2, 3 or 4 players, it’s the 2-player game that’s my favourite — the straight fight. Even though such games normally last around 40 minutes, last night, a friend and I had a marathon battle that lasted over 2 hours. I normally hate long games, but this one was like reading a good book. I just couldn’t tear myself away.

Of course, I lost in the end. :)

Still, I enjoyed last night’s game more than I’ve enjoyed a board game for a long, long time. Credit to Jack — he’s put together a cracker.

Well, I finally got around to looking at a spot of C# programming again. Ran the tests I’ve got on an existing project and, alarmingly, a few failed. So I figured I’d step into them, but it looks like you can’t do it. There’s no way to attach to a process (NUnit in this case) in C# Express. Nor can I select a different executable to run when I use the Start command in the IDE. Bummer.

A quick Google search seemed to confirm the lack of support for this stuff, although a workaround was presented. Does anyone out there know better? Has the situation improved since the pages I read were written? Granted, I’m being somewhat lazy in asking this question instead of doing the research myself, but I reckon a number of my former colleagues must’ve come across this already. Wilka? James? Jack? A.N.Other?