Vegetable Garden Results

So my first-year vegetable garden harvest is complete.

It was fun to have a small garden, and experiment with lots of different varieties of vegetables.  We didn't know what to expect, other than to learn more about what we might want to do in upcoming years.

Some of the plantings worked out really well - others, not so well.  All of the herbs flourished, probably because they are so simple to grow and were planted in a great spot.  Some of the tomato varieties were delicious - others were tasteless.  None of the squashes or cucumbers did anything at all - they were the biggest disappointment.

Next year, we'll grow fewer varieties, and concentrate on the vegetables where "home-grown" really makes a difference.  Tomatoes for sure, and zucchinis.  And I'll have to pay more attention to the variety and location for cucumbers.  We'll grow herbs again, probably more varieties, but in smaller bunches.

I believe I wasn't as careful with the placement of plants as I need to be.  I ended up having some tall plants shading the smaller plants.  And I need to be more careful with stakes and cages.  Some of the tomato plants ended up far taller than I had anticipated, and taller than the tomato cages could handle.

Overall, the garden was fun to do, looked nice in the back yard, and yielded enough vegetables to make it worthwhile, without consuming too much time maintaining it.  Now, I can't wait for next spring!

Successes

• Basil
• Chili Red Pepper
• Chives
• Curled Parsley
• Hot Red Cherry Pepper
• Husky Cherry Red VF Tomato
• Patio Tomato
• Rosemary

Mixed Results

• Big Boy Tomato
• Bonnie Bell Hybrid Pepper
• Bush Blue Lake Beans
• Cherry Belle Radish
• Red Bell Pepper
• Sweet Treat Carrot

Failures

• Black Prince Tomato
• Boston Pickling Cucumber
• Burpless Bush Hybrid Cucumber
• Butterstick Squash
• Fordhook Zucchini
• Sugar Baby Watermelon

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This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality

	My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance. I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing. Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.

SQAForums Wins Again!

Recently, The Automated Testing Institute ran their 2nd Annual "ATI Automation Honors" competition. 

From the ATI website:

The industry's original set of awards dedicated to software test automation is again looking to crown industry leading tools, resources and practitioners with automation's top honor. That means it's time for all of you to get busy! The ATI Automation Honors awards rely on industry practitioners to identify which tools, resources and people are the best, which have the most significant upgrades and/or which are setting the trends that will help to take software test automation to the next level in the coming year. 

Last year SQAForums.com won the Best Software Testing Website award.  This year they were nominated in the "Best Automated Testing Forum" category.

So the Automated Testing Institute's ATI Automation Honors winner for "Best Automated Testing Forum" is...

SQAForums.com

Congratulations, AJ - well done!

See the official announcement at:

http://www.automatedtestinginstitute.com/home/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1344:ati-automation-honors&catid=125:award-honorees&Itemid=1000#Forum

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This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality

	My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance. I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing. Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.

Perhaps They Should Have Tested More - Target

National retailer Target Corp. has been shortchanging customers for months when they use some manufacturers' coupons.

• Target says it has been aware of the problem since August
• Target couldn't explain why the problem was happening nor why it hadn't been resolved
• Some customers are finding that a coupon with a face value of $1.50 are being credited for only $1.02
• Others who have redeemed $4.00 worth of coupons saw only $2.54 taken off
• Target blames the problem on some sort of computer glitch
• Target has told its cashiers to check coupons

Perhaps Target should have tested more?

And perhaps they should get going on a fix for the problem before the holiday shopping kicks in?

see:

    http://articles.latimes.com/2010/oct/28/business/la-fi-target-coupons-20101028

    http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/yourmoney/blogs/106175083.html

    http://jillcataldo.com/node/13555

    http://www.totallytarget.com/2010/10/19/the-knorr-report-a-little-different-this-week/

    http://spectrum.ieee.org/riskfactor/computing/it/target-blames-computer-for-shortchanging-customers

    http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/news/2010/10/29/report-target-has-a-coupons-problem.html

    http://consumerist.com/2010/10/target-shortchanging-customers-on-coupons.html

    http://www.wfrv.com/news/local/Consumer-Watch-Target-shortchanges-customers-with-coupons--106153008.html

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This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality

	My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance. I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing. Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.

Perhaps They Should Have Tested More - Apple

This morning, iOS 4.1 users in Europe reported that their alarm clocks failed to account for the time change due to the end of Daylight Savings, which shifted their clocks back an hour at 2 am this morning. As a result, their alarms went off an hour too late.

• iPhone is getting blamed for making some Europeans late for work this morning
• Apple has been having a lot of problems recently and this is just the latest in a line of gaffes
• Scores of British iPhone 4 users said they were late for work on Monday
• Hundreds of angry comments were posted on microblogging website Twitter 
• A similar bug was reported a month ago by users in Australia and New Zealand
• Apple said last month that a software patch was being developed
• Unclear whether that fix would come by next Sunday when the U.S. will be switching to Standard Time

If I recall correctly, this whole Standard Time versus Daylight Saving Time isn't a new invention, right?  Perhaps recurring alarms are a new invention?

Perhaps Apple should have tested more.

see:

    http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2371850,00.asp

    http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/alarm-glitch-leaves-european-iphone-users-running-late/?news=123

    http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gewhEudLlAeYHGm_O-FIzjpC05rQ?docId=CNG.809df977b92d0cf07c212de2205b6b72.ab1

    http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/11/01/iphone-alarm-bug-wakes-users-up-late/

    http://www.phoneplusmag.com/news/2010/11/iphone-glitch-makes-people-tardy-for-work.aspx

    http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/news/telecom/Alarm-glitch-hits-Apple-iPhone-4/articleshow/6858647.cms

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An update:

No, Apple didn't fix this problem in time for the end of Daylight Saving Time in the US.

But they did say that they would come out with a software fix "soon".  Perhaps right now, they are too busy manually resetting all their alarms.

Read more: 

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2010/11/wait_what_time_is_it.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/11/07/2010-11-07_not_so_smart_phones_apple_admits_it_hasnt_fixed_software_glitch_that_made_thousa.html?r=news/national

http://www.ndchronicle.com/news/Fall_back_2010__Daylight_savings_time_2010_ends_as_iPhone_glitch_becomes_talking_point_1289215012/

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local-beat/iPhones-Cant-Take-Time-Change-106851023.html

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This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality

	My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance. I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing. Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.