lukewarmfusion's Journal: The Exciting World of Me

To break from my usual rants about work and my developing career, I'll make it short and sweet and hit on different topics...

I hate the election, and I'm starting to get fed up with my country. Between the Patriot Act and failing social support systems, I don't like any of the candidates and I don't feel good about our future.

Four years ago, I studied in Japan. Just before I went, I visited the dentist. That was the last time I went. Now, I have at least one cavity and it has started to hurt. This morning I scheduled an appointment to have a cleaning and filling.

To save money (after all, I may not have a steady paycheck soon), I try not to go out to lunch. Instead, I bring something in. Today: Campbell's Chunky soup (Chicken, Cheese, and Broccoli with Potato).

Two weeks ago, I posted a journal entry about my boss asking me to work a ridiculous amount of unnecessary overtime. Last week, I came in to discover that he was asking me to work "as much overtime as possible." Again, it was unnecessary. My response to both was to put in a few extra hours, but basically work the same schedule as I always do. He hasn't said anything, but he did give me plenty of glares when I'd leave the office before 6pm.

Last night, I started playing with MySQL. In the past, my web development has relied on a SQL Server database. It's powerful, easy to use, and has a heck of a lot of literature to help support it. Like most proprietary vs. open source battles, MySQL has some shortcomings that will frustrate me over the next few months. Fortunately, there are some benefits (again, very common) that will probably win out. The price is the biggest benefit. The drawbacks that I see thus far involve database management tools that suck. MySQL Administrator appears to work, but it couldn't create a table in my database and the error messages were worthless. I tried installing MySQL on a Windows server in my home, but I couldn't get the Administrator to even connect. SQL Server worked right away.

Now it appears that the hosting company is using MySQL 3.x and the Administrator is for 4.x+. I'm willing to accept the possibility that my own unfamiliarity with this software is the reason why I'm failing. But I'm also thinking that this configuration/setup is not ideal for my learning. Instead of screwing around with MySQL and PHP (in which I'm a complete newbie) I think I'll try converting some of my ASP applications to use MySQL.

If I can create the tables and get my data in there.

Any suggestions on MySQL tools would be appreciated. For now, it'll have to work with 3.x. I'll have my new server up in a few weeks. If I can get MySQL to do the job, I'll save the money I'd have spent on MSSQL and maybe I can go out to lunch sometime.

use postgres

[WhiteDragon]

It has a lot less "shortcomings". Not trying to flame or anything, but seriously, check out postgresql. I like it a lot, especially due to its compliant SQL language, stored procedural languages, fantastic query optimiser, etc. http://www.postgresql.org

Re:use postgres

[Pandora's Vox]

haha, i was totally just about to post that too. perhaps you can pester your host into installing it for you. if they're running cPanel, they can do it with one click :-)

-Leigh