Luckily, someone named Jon went ahead and wrote two scripts that are very useful. The first is a python script that uses mencoder to download the videos if you pass it a list of links. Getting the video URLs by hand is tedious though, so Jon wrote a Greasemonkey script that grabs all of the links for you.

Unfortunately, Stanford updated its SCPD page format at some point since the script was first published, so when I tried using it the other day it kept on throwing errors. I fixed the Greasemonkey script and posted the changes back as a comment to the original blog. But the scripts are really useful, so I decided to mirror them here just in case they ever vanished from the original author’s site.

So without further ado, here are slightly modified scripts (original versions here) that you can use to magically download all of the video lectures at the end of the Stanford quarter. I want to emphasize that they will only work *for current Stanford students* because you need to authenticate to get to the links page. If you are unsure about how to use Greasemonkey or python, please ask The Google.

Greasemonkey: scpd_links.user.js
Python:  getSCPD.py

It took some thinking, but I finally decided I wanted to do a triathlon. I knew I could run, and I could bike, but unfortunately, I couldn’t swim at all. I mean, I wasn’t going to drown, but .5 miles? (the sprint tri swimming length) was way beyond me.

But then I found masters swimming!
(ie swimming for old people)

We have a pool about 2.5 miles away from us which is run by the Santa Clara Swim Club. They offer a masters program for swimmers of different levels.

Group 1 is people who used to swim in high school or something and might even compete in competitions. Group 2 is just a little bit below that, maybe people who aren’t quite as good. And Group 3… well, that’s for people like me. A bunch of people who can’t swim, training in the 3 ft deep kiddie pool.

I started off not knowing any of the 4 main strokes and I could barely swim 25 yards. After only 2 weeks I’m up to a 100 and I can now swim every stroke (except for butterfly is still pretty difficult). I look pretty funny in my swim mask and cap, but I can swim!

Anyway, hopefully I’ll keep increasing my distance so that I can do a test triathlon out of Joey’s mom’s pool over thanksgiving. If that goes well then next will be braving a freezing cold lake.

I’ve got 3 others ready do a triathlon, so it’s definitely going to be a party. Ping me if you want to join in! (or if you know of a good first tri to try)

View in EveryTrail

Because I was on my own, I decided to opt for a hike through the bay area rather than in the hills so that I was both phone and car accessible if I ran into any trouble. This made the route rather flat, so it was much easier than previous hikes and I was able to keep around an 3.8 mph pace. I was still pretty drained by the end though.

I headed from our house to Stanford with a quick stop at Google for lunch with my brother. Through a lot of Google Maps tweaking I was able to keep my route mostly on the various pedestrian/biking paths in the cities – San Tomas Aquino Creek Trail, the SF Bay Trail, 3 pedestrian bridges, Steven’s Creek Trail, 2 Baylands Parks, and even a trail next to Sand Hill Road.

It was awesome.
Resolution done.