The second meeting of the Tri-Valley SolidWorks User Group will be held on June 18th at the Holiday Inn Express in Dublin, CA, and  it’s looking really promising already, full of information and hands-on  learning opportunities. I’m really excited because many of the topics in the agenda fit perfectly with what I’m studying these days:  Smart Components, Smart Mates, Assembly ...

While going through the SolidWorks Training Manual on Advanced Assemblies, I ran into this little piece of information,  that  is so simple and easy, it kind of left me scratching my scalp, wondering how come I didn’t think about it before.  I’m talking about removing external references in a part document that was created or edited in the context of an assembly and made to reference the ge...

This week started with sad news about the recent passing of Mr. Eugenio Garza Lagüera, who was for many years head of the Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, my alma mater.  He was a man of firm convictions; a real role model of integrity and excellence for all in the college community.  Deeply admired and respected by all of us. For some reason, ever since hearing about t...

As a female mechanical engineer, I always feel an overwhelming excitement whenever I find other women venturing in engineering, be it as professionals or students. I rejoice whenever I find women involved in science and technology, but particularly in engineering, since, in my country at least,  engineering is still a mainly male-dominated area, slowly opening up to women.  And women have so muc...

The school year is soon coming to an end. For many, it means vacation time, long lazy days of fun and play, and perhaps a few trips to the beach. For most of my neighbors it also means finding alternative, and hopefully affordable, daycare options that  may work for them while school is out.  Due to the high cost of living in this area, most of my neighbors are two income families, both ...

Perhaps the most frustrating and rewarding thing about being a self-learner is that you have to figure things out on your own, and, for the most part, it means that  you’re likely to find at least ten wrong ways to do something before you can find the right one. And then you have to figure out what was wrong about the other ten! The good part about this process is that (hopefully) you’ll lear...

Yeah, that’s right!  After trying so hard not to, resisting with all my might, and swearing I would never do it, I finally gave in and decided it was a good idea to become a member of the Society of Plastics Engineers after all. I have always been reluctant about joining this kind of societies. Many years ago, while still in college,  some of our teachers and advisors got us all fired ...

As the week begins, I feel proud to say that I’ve finally completed one more of the SW training manuals, the Advanced Parts Modeling one. Each day, I’m getting closer and closer to finally feeling prepared enough to try my luck with the CSWP test, but most importantly, I’m learning  tons of new stuff about SolidWorks, getting some practice, and having lots of fun along the way. Among the e...

OK, if this sounds too odd or corny, then I’ll blame it on the flu, even though this morning my temperature has finally come back to normal.  Right after posting about the SolidWorks Community Survey,  I went to fill it out myself.  I must admit that I was expecting something a little bit different. It didn’t even take me ten minutes to finish it. I was expecting it to be a lot ...

Hey folks, here’s your chance to make your voice heard and tell SolidWorks what community means to you,  what you like, don’t like, need or want from the SolidWorks Community! SolidWorks Corporation is conducting a comprehensive survey that will help them find out all that, but they need our cooperation. How can we help? Well, simply by filling out the survey, of course. This is an awesom...

I don’t know what tops your list of favorite activities, but for me nothing beats  “Date Night”  with my hubby.  Whenever we have a chance, we leave the kids with a babysitter and head over to the most romantic place in town. Why, the bowling alley, of course! OK, so it’s not precisely what the dictionary describes as romantic, but we always have a great time there, and part of the fun ...

It may just be that I’m running a fever as I write this, I’ve been as sick as a dog all this week, but I can’t help feeling this way.  Can I pour my heart out to a listening ear out there on this vast cyber universe?  Well, it’s like this. My own copy of the newest SolidWorks book I had been (un) patiently waiting for so long finally got here just a few days ago. It is, indeed, a great b...