While at SolidWorks World this year I attended three sessions that were somehow different to what I had expected when I signed up for them.  The subject and purpose for each of them differed from one another, but what they all had in common was that they all required from the attendee to not only interact or follow through a tutorial, like in the hands-on sessions, but to actually provide the c...

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...

Just a few minutes ago, I followed a link to an interesting survey about SolidWorks packaging and pricing. I’m not sure how long this survey has been going on, to be honest, so I apologize if you have already seen it or heard about it before, but it was news for me. I had included a link to it, but they told me that was my personal link and I’ve already taken the survey. You can access thi...

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...

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...

Wow! It seems like an eternity since the last time I updated this blog. Well, it hasn’t been an eternity, of course, but it feels that way because I used to post frequently. I have a few good reasons for my lack of activity, though.  Double whammy baseball season is the one you already know. I have less time to write than I used to, but there’s something else…  I’m currently digging deep...

OK, I confess, I am a faithful subscriber of Elise Moss’ weekly CADzette, a newsletter that offers tips and tricks for AutoCAD and other Autodesk’s products, and even some good advice for SolidWorks users, at least every now and then.   It’s a really good reading, because Elise has tons of experience and is always willing to share with the rest of us. Anyway, this fragment was ...

Remember that movie with Jack Nicholson? That one where he plays the part of a famous writer that suffered from OCD and hated everybody in his building, but ends up adopting his gay neighbor and the neighbor’s dog, and falling in love with the waitress that worked at the restaurant he ritually visited every single day? At the end of the movie, he conquers many of his obsessions, such as washing ...

Back in August, just a few weeks after finally getting my CSWP, I decided to start my very first search for a job in this country using several on-line job search engines.  If you’ve ever done this, then you know how it goes: you upload your resume here and there, and receive quite a few emails every day, each with a long list of all the fascinating job offers that match your search criteri...

One of the things that I enjoy the most about writing this humble blog is having the opportunity of helping others through the blog posts and also answering questions other users may have. However, there’s one particular kind of question that I get every now and then that always leaves me wondering: when people ask me about how they can manage to make SolidWorks behave just like AutoCAD by using...

Our vacation time in Florida was awesome, tropical storm and all.  It rained non-stop from the moment we arrived, but that didn’t prevent us from going out and having fun.  As a matter of fact, I noticed a huge crowd in almost every single place we went to, wearing ponchos, or just walking in the rain, getting soaked and making the best of it.  There were even quite a few folks in...

Last Sunday was a very exciting day for me. Becoming a CSWP was a goal that I had been chasing for several months already, so you bet it was exhilarating to finally achieve it. However, now that the euphoria of the moment is almost gone, I’m finding myself back in the same place I was a few years ago, that afternoon at the top of El Tepozteco mountain, just taking it in for a moment, before it�...

Oh, God!   It’s 1:30 am, on a school night, and I’m here, blogging!  But I just had to shout it to the world: I can’t believe it, but I PASSED THE CSWA! I did, I really did! I took the test tonight (last night?), after the kids went to bed, and I got 80%. I guess that’s not bad. It wasn’t easy as pie, but it wasn’t as impossible as I feared, either. I would say the test was fair for...

Well, no, that’s not me, unfortunately, but if you happen to know this person, please, send him/her over my way, so I can learn a few tricks on how to become fast enough to pass the CSWA.  But seriously,  I’ve heard so much talk about how the online certification test is a useless test that measures only how fast a drafter you are, as well as your ability in interpreting hieroglyphs, err, I ...

OK, I confess, I was beginning to feel a bit left behind.  A little like in Tim LaHaye’s  novel, where only a few lucky chosen ones get to be raptured and suddenly disappear from the face of the Earth, while the rest of the world is left to experience all sorts of horror and tribulations until the very end of times. Well, OK, that’s too much drama, and I wasn’t feeling that bad, but I was ...