Category Archives: Wales

Using mencoder for my first youtube upload

I’ve been watching the BBC’s Gavin and Stacey series again and found just as hilarious as I did when I watched it first. I wanted to view the wedding speeches again but they weren’t on Youtube anywhere so I figured I’d upload my first youtube video with the speeches (probably violating all sorts of copyrights in the process).

I have used ffmpeg from the windows SUPER installer before but I used mencoder from the same install this time to cut the speeches from the episode. Just as ffmpeg is, mencoder is an awesome utility.

mencoder -ss 00:15:00 -endpos 00:03:20 -ovc copy -oac copy Episode6.avi -o ClippedEpisode6.avi

I love it when he whips out the toast – nearly wet myself when I saw that first. Enjoy – Gavin and Stacey – Wedding Speeches

Triathlon number 3 – Llanrwst 2008

Last weekend I completed my third triathlon (Llanrwst tri 2008) but this time it was in Wales (where I live now). It was a 400m swim in a very small 20m pool, 25km bike ride on a surprisingly hilly course and finally a 5km run on a very hilly course which was half road and half off-road in a forest. It was a great day and I was very happy with my times and my position (23rd/172). My speedo on my bike decided to stop showing me my speed so I had to rely on how much my thighs were burning and my Garmin 405 to know how I was doing. Pete’s Dad took the photo below of me coming out of the second transition and starting my run. Despite the smile my legs were on fire and felt like jelly after the bike.

Triathlon-Llanrwst-2008-Phil-cropped-2-web.jpg

Monster Commute

Late February of this year I started back working for Karova. As I lived in Dublin at the time it meant a monster of a commute every week, staying at a friends during the week and coming back to Dublin at the weekends. I still do the same commute but I now have my own place in Colwyn Bay which is only 2 minutes walk from the train station and about a minute walk to work. When I add up the commute time (which ranges between 11 and 14 hours a week) it is not far off what I spent on the trains when commuting to Dublin city centre and I get to work or watch DVDs on the ferry/train. All in all it’s an enjoyable trip every week. A little tiring but it means I can stay committed to GAA and my triathalon/marathon training. One thing I have learned on my commutes is that Family Guy is absolutely hilarious.