Well, it was back to the theatre to see quite a dark play called Mrs. Afleck. I have to say, I had a brilliant time and really enjoyed my trip to the theatre.

The play is about the breakdown of a marriage, which is expedited by the death of the couples son.

In the audience were a couple of faces I recognised first was Becky Grainger from Coronation Street. The actress Katherine Kelly was sat on the front row. Second was an actress from Casualty. I cant remember her name but she was the daughter of a surgeon.

So there you have it, I was rubbing shoulders with the famous again.

RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) stops working on Windows 2008 Core when promoted to DC (Domain Controller)

I had a fully configured Windows 2008 Enterprise server running in Core more. RDP was configured correctly and I could log on to the desktop using MSTSC.

I then promoted the server using DCPROMO to be the first DC in a new domain in a new forest. Once this was complete the machine rebooted.

At this point I could no longer log on to the server using RDP. I tried a few things like disabling the firewall, and running the following command but nothing would work.

c:windowssystem32 > cscript scregedit.wsf /ar 0

Solution

1. run the command c:windowssystem32 > cscript scregedit.wsf /ar 1 to disable RDP
2. run the command c:windowssystem32 > cscript scregedit.wsf /ar /v this will display the registry setting so you can check the value is set to 1
3. reboot the server
4. run the command c:windowssystem32 > cscript scregedit.wsf /ar 0 this will enable RDP
5. run the command c:windowssystem32 > cscript scregedit.wsf /ar /v this will display the registry setting so you can check the value is set to 0
6. reboot the server

Please note I am running these commands from the system32 folder. by default your command promt will be at c:usersadministrator to change directory to the system32 folder use the following commands

• cd
• cd windows
• cd system32

I was in the pub last night and a fella at the bar ordered a Lager Top. Nothing unusual there, I have ordered then for friends in the past; however; I always call it Shandy

As everyone knows a shandy is lager and lemonade, and a lager top is lager and lemonade so what is the difference? nothing as far as I am concerned. lager top drinkers (which I will from now on call shandy drinkers) argue that shandy is 50% lager and 50% lemonade, but when have you ever seen a barmaid measure the quantity?

lets look at another example. if you have 1 shot of gin and add tonic you get a gin and tonic. if you have 4 shots of gin and half the amount tonic it is still called a gin and tonic, its just a little stronger. If we apply this to lager and lemonade and we add more lager and less lemonade then we have a strong shandy, so why call it a lager top?

its all down to ego.

Shandy drinkers would feel embarrassed in front of their mates asking for a shandy or even a strong shandy, by asking for a lager top they are trying to say “I am drinking lager not shandy” even though logic dictates they have asked for lager and lemonade, which everyone knows is a shandy.

So who drinks shandy?

The majority of shandy drinkers can be found in the south of England – no surprise there then !

When is Shandy acceptable?

Now dont get me wrong there are times when a shandy is not considered a girlie drink. There are times when you have worked up a thirst and a shandy (only one) is acceptable. Examples of this would be after a round of golf, or after playing squash or badminton. Basically when you go to the pub after doing any energetic sport (darts, pool and snooker do not count) its OK to order a pint of shandy. Obviously you cant have two pints as that would be far too girlie.

Update 16th August 2010

I decided to revisit this post just to make sure I felt the same way about shandy and Later top. To my surprise if you search wikipedia they agree with me because Lager Top is filed directly under Shandy! If you do not believe me here is the link  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shandy

I have had an account with Vodafone for 8 years, at one point I had 3 numbers (work, private and data). Last year I decided to try someone else.

I opened an account with Three and got a N95 4-5 months later when I was happy (sort of) with the quality of the phone calls I had on the Three network I finally took the plunge and transferred my main mobile number from Vodafone the Three. Everything went really smoothly with the transfer and I have been on Three for nearly a year.

Last week I decided it was time for a new phone, I could not decide between the Blackberry Storn and the Nokia 5800. Once I had made up my mind I rang Vodafone as I had decided to move back to them. I wanted to do the same as last time, get the phone, start using it (yes I know I would be paying 2 line rentals) and transfer the number when I was ready. Vodafone do not allow this! I would have to transfer the number immediately. I was not happy with this and spoke to Vodafone for ages about it, why Three can do it and Vodafone can not seems to be a complete mystery

Vodafone say that when you transfer a number it has to be to a new contract and there is no way round this. I told them that it did not make business sense for me to do this and they left me no alternative but to look at other suppliers, Vodafone did not care and could offer no solution.

I think this is very poor of Vodafone. Businesses dont want to have downtime of a major contact number, and it makes sense for the users to get used to a handset before they have to use it in their line of business, Vodafone obviously don’t care and are not interested in listening to the customer requirements. If  Three can do it why cant Vodafone?

I have decided to have a look at T-mobile and O2 and possibly staying with Three and I will definately be giving Vodafone a wide birth.

Working as a contractor can at times be lonely. My current contract is for the British Standards Institution in London, a city where nobody speaks and everyone is too busy to notice the other millions of people in the city.

When another contractor I work with suggested we went to the theatre I jumpled at the chance. Peter told me there was a play on at the National Theatre that he wanted to see, and I said yes straight away. Now period drama’s are the one thing I hate to watch on TV or films, so when I found out that the Pitmen Painters was a period drama I wondered what I had let myself in for, but I was just happy to be doing something different.

We jumped on the tube and arrived in plenty of time to have a drink first, I was really thrilled to be paying £3.75 for a bottle of beer (dont get me started on that one) so after a couple of beers it was time for the play.

I have to say the play caught me in the first 5 mins and held my attention all the way through. the opening half hour was just filled with laughs and gags highlighting the differences between the working class and upper class in the 1930’s which could quite easily be the 1990’s. The actors took the audience on a journey showing how these miners became artists and how their love for art grew and grew.

So what was the most memorable part? well! all of it, but the 3 secs that will always make me chuckle is when one of the characters gets her kit off and we see a nakes bum and half a breast. Its not memorable because it was a naked woman, it was the reaction of the upper class people watching, loads of them gave high pitch squeals of shock, ands some of disgust at a naked lady on the stage for the whole of 3 secs! and its this reaction I will always remember.

When you looked at the people in the audience ( I love people watching) they were mostly middle-upper class white with an average age of 55. I agree there were some school children there (secondary / sixth form) but yo could tell it was a private school. The audience was not a typical cross section of the people in London or the rest of the UK, so its not wonder the theatre is struggling to keep up the numbers, as their target audience is dwindling in numbers.

Would I recommend the Play to a friend? Yes, definately I really enjoyed my self

Will I be going to see other plays? I would have to say Yes, it was a good night out, and good entertainment. I will have to see if there are any plays close to Blackpool and take Rachel my wife for a night out.

Spain 2 England 0

What a brilliant performance by the spanish team, they out played England although I have to say England were up against 12 men ( I include the referee in that ). What was the referee doing it was like he was at a rave the amount of times he blew his whistle.

England were missing quite a few of their first team,  Wayne Rooney and Steve Gerrard to name but a few.  If  England were at full strength I would like to think the result would have been different.�
<h2>Ant McPartlin</h2>
I suppose that staying in London I should have expected to see the odd celebrity or two, but you could have knocked me down with a feather when Ant McPartlin walked into the pub.  Its in the paper at the moment that <a title=”Family for Ant” href=”http://primetime.unrealitytv.co.uk/ant-not-dec-wants-to-start-a-family/” target=”_blank”>Ant is trying for kids</a>, well you had better lay off the beer Ant !..  I also read an article that he is thinking about what he gets his missus for <a title=”Valentines Day.” href=”http://blog.totalkiss.com/2009/02/st_valentines_day.html” target=”_blank”>Valentines</a>, lets go one better than a chippie tea which was last years romance.