If you’ve seen this blog kind of empty lately is because I’ve spent the last few days “putting my house in order” after the trip to SolidWorks World. I had my laptop with me the whole time, but a lot of email went unanswered just the same, so I came back to dealing with that, plus taking care of a few local appointments I had set up before leaving, hunting for a new babysitter for my boys, and, literally, putting my house in order… Oh, this place was so messy when I came back!  To his credit, my husband did a great job with the kids, even when he didn’t really cook a single time, but I know he’s not used to juggling this responsibility, so I fear he was beginning to resent it.

Anyway, SolidWorks World was an awesome experience for me.  It’s impressive to see all those people gathering together for this kind of event. I think the only other time I’ve seen so many people together in one single place was the time I attended the Women of Faith conference in San Jose a few years ago. Imagine the HP Pavilion packed with hundreds, maybe thousands of people… and they are all women!

But back to SolidWorks World. Being this my first one, I must say I think I “survived” it pretty well, although if I could go back in time, I would probably have done a few things differently.  One thing that I regret is not allowing myself enough time at the Partners Pavilion. I checked out on a few of the exhibitors during the welcoming reception and then I went back a couple more times to visit HSMWorks booth and to have the folks from SolidThinking demo their product for me.  I’ll be writing some more about both HSMWorks and SolidThinking, as I find my way through an evaluation version of both products.   Everything I saw at the partners pavilion was very exciting, but I know there was still a lot that I missed. 

I guess I should’ve also tried my hand at the Model Mania contest, just for fun.  And, if I could do it all over again, I would also try to mingle more, even though I don’t drink, just to meet people and make new friends, I guess.  I would also take a bigger suitcase with me, so I wouldn’t have to sit on it in order to make it close when it’s time to come back home. Provided that I had taken a bigger suitcase with me, I would’ve probably taken home one of those boxes, the ones with the icoasters that had been used during the contest at the CSWP event, like most people seemed to be doing.  I also would remember to take my orchid (the one from the salad) with me before I exit the Great Hall of China to board the bus that would take me to the CSWP event, and I would definitely offer Jeff Ray a sincere apology for leaving that way, and to Nancy Buchino a heartfelt “Thank you!” for being so understanding. Truth is I wished I could’ve been at both places at the same time. That restaurant was so beautiful and fancy!  One of those places you don’t really get to go to everyday.

And I think I would’ve changed my choice of technical sessions to attend, at least a bit. Some of them were excellent, like Wayne Tiffany’s, Gerald Davis’ and Lenny Kikstra’s. Others, like Richard Doyle’s,  were also really good and felt a bit like going to college for a class; I came out with new knowledge that I was able to apply right away. Some sessions, like Joe Craig’s and Frank Reiss’, both from Brand Hydraulics, even had an extra bonus for us to take home. And no, I’m not talking about the USB thumb drive they gave us, but about the code they shared with all of us in attendance and that we can use to create our own computer based training experiment using PhotoWorks and SW Animator. Yet, there were two or so sessions that I wished I hadn’t chosen, not so much because they were really bad or something, but because they were not really what I thought they would be about or the topics of discussion were too high above my level of understanding for me to actually take something useful from all that was said.  It was inspiring, though…  At the very least it reminded me there was more room to grow and more for me to learn. Anyway, all of the training sessions I attended, plus the ones I didn’t attend will be made available by SolidWorks soon, and there may even be video for many of them, so stay tuned.

One thing I would not change is the people. I had so much fun hanging out with my fellow bloggers and meeting all those people that read this blog and that write the blogs that I read, as well as those folks that I’ve met through Twitter or through some other means related to the SolidWorks community.  I even met quite a few people that had never visited this or any other SolidWorks blog, but wanted to know what it was all about. I even met some Spanish speaking gentlemen from Boston Scientific, and later that day I reunited with an old ex-classmate from college that was not really attending SolidWorks World but was there to meet with someone that was.  It’s a small world indeed!

But that last reunion was bittersweet, to tell you the truth.  While catching up on the latest of our lives and adventures, I often wished I had more to say about myself, and certainly something better to show for than this.  I’m not comparing myself to anyone… Well, maybe I am, just a bit… It’s kind of hard not to in such circumstances, you know?  But I know that everyone’s road is a different one; I just hope mine takes me somewhere good real soon.

And so, it’s back to business as usual around here…

 Quick Edit:

I just saw this on Twitter. Mike Pucket has posted a picture of the piece of wall that was signed by all CSWPs this year. My name is in there, somewhere!