It’s past midnight here in Lexington, Massachusetts, and I guess I should be in bed, but after the great time I had today, I really felt like blogging, even if just for a bit. I’m here as one of DS SolidWorks’ guests.  They were so kind to invite yours truly and a few other bloggers to visit their offices in Concord  for a couple of days, chat with several of the key people that work here,...

This may be the chance you were waiting for to be able to afford your own seat of SolidWorks!  SolidWorks is now giving you an alternative to finance your software AND subscription service, and start reaping the benefits today.  That’s right! Instead of paying a big amount upfront, you now have the option of purchasing the software and then make 36 very convenient monthly payments, tha...

I had a great time in Spain, but it’s always good to be home. This little trip also served the purpose of a “walk-in-your-shoes” experiment for my husband and me, since it’s usually him who gets to travel the world. I’m glad to report that the experiment was a big success. I was empowered by a deeper understanding and respect for my husband and all the travel that his job requires, and w...

While this has been an extremely interesting week in Barcelona, I’m certainly glad it is now time to go back home to my family in California. I miss my husband and kids terribly, and, to tell the truth, I don’t think I am as extrovert and/or as intensely social as the rest of the bloggers. Unlike me, those guys seem to thrive on social interaction, cool gadgets, blogging and twittering… an...

Wednesday night’s dinner at the Xalet was amazing and a whole new experience for me.  I must confess that I was feeling a bit out of place, among so many strangers, and that includes my fellow bloggers, since I had never seen them before in my life. Even more intimidating for me was the fact that, for some strange reason that I still don’t understand, I was sharing the same table with Bernard...

This is about the wrong way to profit with people’s hunger for knowledge and need for information.  I know, it’s a rant, but I just couldn’t let it go without saying something about it.  Recently, our friend Jeff Mirisola, from the SW Blogging Squad, had voiced his need for suggestions and information regarding piping and routing with SolidWorks.  I really have no idea of how to use this ...

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...

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 ...

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...

Wow! I haven’t really experienced SolidWorks 2008 ( I wish I could). I’ve seen some people complain about things they didn’t like about it, like the user interface, but apparently all the other great things about SolidWorks 2008 as a whole greatly outweigh any problems it may have, since it’s been awarded Product of the Year, according to the readers of NASA Tech Briefs.  You can read...

Apparently, in part thanks to a certain Robin of Locksley from the 21st century, SolidWorks has just made the SolidWorks World 2008 proceedings available to everyone, along with podcasts, videos, cool photos and all! Oh, and the website is the coolest too! To get to them, just go to the Customer Portal, sign in and look for the link to SolidWorks World 2008 on the left. Enjoy! Oh, and thanks to th...

The last couple weeks have been hectic and interesting, to say the least. On one hand, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, if only via e-mail, a truly amazing human being, full of life experience and wisdom (that he’s more than happy to share with the younger generations), as well as plenty of ideas and enthusiasm. I’m sure you’ll soon be hearing more about him, but for now I’ll leave you ...

I thought about writing this for a long time, because I didn’t want it to sound like a rant or mere whining. Before I say anything, I want to assure everybody that I love using the software and I deeply respect SolidWorks as a company, as well as all the great folks that work there. OK, so here it goes. If you watched the movies I posted on the blog just recently, you may have noticed that Vic L...

I didn’t tell you before, but for this first meeting of the TVSWUG, there were prizes and gifts for everyone in attendance. Everyone came out of there with something! Most gifts were SW promotional items ( screen cleaners, bottles, jackets, backpacks, baseball caps), but there were also other prizes that were gracefully donated by the companies sponsoring the meeting. The one that was considered...

My brother spent a couple of hours chatting with me last night. He was really upset and, unfortunately, it seemed that whatever I said to him actually made him feel worse. Oops! See my baby brother (he’s ten years younger than me) is an Architecture student in Mexico city. He’ll graduate this year. For several weeks, all he could talk about was this contest he was participating in.  Sever...