Hey there! I’m still around and with a few more chronicles from SolidWorks World 2010. I’m sorry for the interruption! I’ll be back writing soon; please, be patient, however, since there are a few important family and health concerns that I need to tend to first. In the meantime, would you please check out my humble gallery of models? You will notice there’s an extra page i...

Hey everyone, thank you for coming over and reading this blog throughout this year 2009, even if you came only once, or even if you just found out about it today. Just the same, thank you! As this year comes to an end, I find myself reflecting on all that was accomplished and/or left undone, and feeling that I could’ve done so much better. I bet we have all felt that same way at some point or an...

We have a say in my country about “bargains”.  People often warn you that what you buy for cheap will often end up costing you a lot more, because it will break, it won’t last, or it simply won’t perform as it was supposed to, and you’ll end up spending more money on repairs or replacing the product altogether.  I believe here in US people say, “You get what you pay for.” And you k...

It seems to me like I’ve been out of touch with everything lately. I have certainly neglected this blog and haven’t even kept up with the entire buzz about SolidWorks related news, forums and blogs.  I apologize to those that have sent questions through email asking for help, and never received an answer. I wasn’t ignoring you, I was simply too busy working on a non-modeling, but SolidWorks...

Hey there! If you are wondering (and even if you are not) why this blog has been so empty as off lately, just let me tell you that everyone in my family, including me, has been sick on and off with some sort of flu or cold. I’m sick of it (no pun intended)!  So, that’s how with kids staying home sick and in between fevers and coughs, my days have been as boring and unproductive as they could ...

On a terribly off-topic note, today was the first day of school on this side of California. My little one is finally a kindergartener, which leaves some free time for me to go back to school and take at least one or two classes this fall.  So, I didn’t win the lotto, haven’t got that super-duper job I’ve been wishing for, and even some project I was very excited about ended up being a bit o...

I wanted to write this before the fact and publish it Saturday evening or Sunday morning. At least, that was the plan, but of course thanks to Murphy things don’t usually go according to plan, so… Anyway, by the time you read this I’ll be somewhere in Colorado… maybe further along on the way to Kansas, who knows…  In case you haven’t figured it out just yet, I’m taking some time off...

Let me start by making it clear that this is somehow off-topic, and by that I mean that it’s not about how to do something in SolidWorks, or how to work around a limitation or known issue.  Yes, I know, how dreadfully disappointing! But, you see, every now and then I like to claim this blog as my personal space for reflection and, well, rambling too.  So, anyway, that little person that is alw...

Hey guys, you know we bloggers love comments and we always welcome our readers to share their point of view on everything we write about, right? I mean, at least I do. However, what I really can’t have in this blog is nasty comments and flames, as well as profanity of any sort, even if it’s not exactly directed towards me, and especially when it’s directed to other readers of this blog. I wi...

I’ve been out of action for several days, suffering from what may seem like an awful case of conjunctivitis, or extremely dry eye, most likely related to the presence (and recent growth) of scar tissue on my cornea as a result of a chemical burn I suffered a few years ago while working with strain gauges. It feels worse than it sounds, believe me!  It also comes and goes, never lasts more than ...

Well a lot has been said already about SolidWorks engineering stimulus plan to help those professionals that have lost their jobs due to the tough times we live in update their skills and get hired again. In addition to this you will often hear of all these discounts and financing plans available at your local VAR, but truth is, despite all these efforts, for many entrepreneurs out there that wish...

As some of you know, I’ve been using Twitter for a short while already. You can find me as avephoenix, if you wish to follow.  It is kind of useful at times, I suppose.  Hmmm, on second thought, don’t bother, because I may just cancel that Twitter account, anyway. These are a couple of interesting articles that I found about the use of Twitter; just wanted to share them here and see wha...

So here I am, in Barcelona. Finally, after nearly 14 hours of flight from San Francisco, I’ve arrived to the hotel, and even met with a few of the SolidWorks bloggers. Here in this picture you can see, from left to right, Jason, Josh, Mike, Brian and Ben. Yes, we met at the hotel bar, but I was drinking Coca-Cola.  They are such great guys; a lot of fun to talk to. I’m really looking forw...

What’s the only good thing about having a spouse who travels the world all year round, I mean besides (emergency) chocolate from Switzerland and gold plated figurines from Japan? Frequent flyer miles! Thousands and thousands of them! This year, instead of me traveling to Mexico with the kids, Keith decided to take some time off from work, take some of those miles, and head over to Orlando, FL, f...

This hasn’t got much to do with SolidWorks, but a lot to do with women and engineering. It’s about the annual national conference for women in engineering, and that this year will take place from November 6th to 8th, in Baltimore, Maryland.  It looks like something I would like to experience, but unfortunately I will have to miss it this year. I had no idea that such an event took place, ...