A couple of weeks ago I spent a very pleasant week down in Fort Lauderdale, and while enjoying a drink with far too many bits of fruit and umbrellas for me to be completely comfortable, I found myself looking over at a beach-front store covered with buckets, shovels, towels and... Continue reading

If you have children of a certain age, then right now your life is all about Katniss Everdeen and The Hunger Games. If you don’t know the story, essentially it’s about a sixteen year old girl trying to survive a kill-or-be-killed entertainment show in a post-apocalyptic world. Now Katniss’s weapon... Continue reading

I have been reading about Felix Baumgartner’s attempt on the world skydiving altitude record, held for the last 50 years by Joseph Kittinger. Felix plans to jump from a gondola attached to a helium balloon at 120,000ft (or 36,500 meters), and the big question no one is sure about is... Continue reading

Yesterday I took the family to the airport for their semiannual flight back to the UK to visit friends and family. And as I watched the luggage go down the conveyor belt I started to wonder what went on behind those black plastic doors. Now we’ve all heard of stories... Continue reading

Last year, a former colleague at SolidWorks built himself an igloo, and my children deemed it ‘totally awesome’ and demanded one. I never managed to finish that particular project, but the thought of building an igloo has never really gone away, and with the cold weather we are (finally) having... Continue reading

Watching my son play indoor 6-a-side football (or soccer, as some of you might call it), is both an exhilarating and nerve-racking experience. The father in me wants him to enjoy ‘the beautiful game,’ the competitor in me wants him to win, and the coach in me wants him to... Continue reading

As an Englishman, there are certain things that one expects to remain constant: There will always be a royal family; The summer sun will shine as England plays cricket at Lords; Big Ben will chime every hour, every day. So it is somewhat disconcerting to hear that the Palace of... Continue reading

Last weekend saw me and the family at our favorite lake. While the kids swam and fished I sat under a beach umbrella trying to keep my pallid English skin out of the strong New England sun. I don’t tan, ladies and gentlemen--I just go a disconcerting and painful shade... Continue reading

Somehow (and don’t ask me how) my family have turned into avid tent campers, going every couple of weeks over the New England summer. But as with anything in my family, nothing ever goes smoothly; let me tell you about how SolidWorks was able to save our camping holidays. As... Continue reading

I got to the beach at last this weekend. There was sun, sand, and the perfect family day out (with two kids under ten). I also brought along my nemesis—a skim board that I purchased in a moment of madness. I could surf in my youth, so I figured how... Continue reading

So I’ve just found out it's National Pi Day here in the States because they write today's date as 3/14 rather than 14/3. I guess that means Pi Day back in Europe should be July 22nd (22/7). It's a somewhat serendipitous event, as I'm analyzing an assembly which is a... Continue reading

This past weekend was all about snow and ice, or rather the removal of those two pesky forms of water. The last two winter storms have dropped a significant amount of snow here in the Boston area. Now, I am new to the area, hailing from England, and to be... Continue reading