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TOAD for MySQL

Almost as feature rich as it’s namesake for Oracle, TOAD for MySQL is a wonderful addition to my development arsenal. This application gives total control over the database from a very well-designed and inntuitive interface. Those used to using TOAD for Oracle will be very pleasantly surprised. Once logged in, you can view entire schemas and their structures, import and export, write views, and even input data directly. I had several databases and tables built within an hour of having the thing up and running.

I’ve used the web-based PHPMyAdmin for years but always hated the security breach of running the MySQL client on the Linux host as well as having to move the entire PHPMyAdmin directory into and out of place each time I used it (to keep it hidden from hackers). MySQL-Front was a great little app that somehow got killed off quickly (apparently due to objections and threats of legal action from the folks at MySQL). The tools offered by MySQL.com simply cannot compete; in fact, I think they are fairly worthless compared with TOAD.

The downside to TOAD is that it requires, oddly enough, that the .NET 2.0 framework be installed on the machine. Not a big deal because I have it installed to support other applications as well. But this free application is a powerhouse and I find it hugely useful for designing, developing, and administering databases.

To get around the security issues of running the MySQL client on the host machine and also to connect remotely to the host, I create an SSH tunnel from my laptop into the machine I wish to access and then simply point TOAD to my local machine (127.0.0.1) where it gets forwarded to the remote host. Very nice solution that works at home and at work.

Ponderosa

Tabbed browsing has revolutionized the browsing experience. And now Ponderosa does the same for terminal emulators. I love this thing. I can customize this app to have all the features and display options of PuTTY or TeraTerm, but all the windows (sometimes many of them connected to many different hosts) all remain as tabs within one window. This application also requires the .NET framework but I have yet to investigate why that is so. Very sweet application and long overdue.

Performancing for Firefox

Performancing for Firefox is my latest find not only for great plugins to Firefox but also in the search for alternatives to blog posting directly within the WordPress interface. Launching Performancing splits the Firefox screen and provides a very rich editing environment along with bookmarks, page tools, metrics, and also includes all the configuration settings (like categories) from my WordPress blog. Highly recommended for offline blogging and as a replacement for Qumana.

Ruby on Rails

With all these groovy new tools at my disposal, a colleague and I plan to embark on a discovery of Ruby on Rails and how we can leverage that platform in our environment. Stay tuned.

This is post using mo:Blog on a Treo 700P. It was remarkably simple to setup. There are more features than are demonstrated here (file uploads, for example). Pretty cool.

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2354/

This is a wonderful plugin for Firefox. I’ve been spending a lot of time recently tagging the articles I am reading. But it is bothersome to have to have another Firefox tab open to create the tags (and more so to cut and paste between them). Using a simple right-click on any page, this plugin opens a Firefox window with all the fields I need for tagging, many of them already populated. It even grabs the tags from my personal del.icio.us acount (while also recommending others). Very, very cool and highly recommended.

I’ve seen Neil Young and Crazy Horse a couple of times over the years. I have to say that when he’s on fire, no one– older or younger–rocks like this guy.

But the Heart of Gold DVD is something different and truly magnificent. It’s a fabulous collection of old band mates (Spooner Oldham, Grant Boatright, Ben Keith) along with the heavenly Emmylou Harris and others. Jonthan Demme directs this gorgeous show from Nashville’s Ryman Auditorum (the Grand Ole Opry) and Neil points out that he is playing ‘Hank’s old guitar’ (which hasn’t seen this stage since 1951). It’s a mix of old and new songs, apparently made more poignant by the loss of Neil’s father just months before as well as his own struggle with a recent brain anuerism.

The ending scene with the credits rolling where Neil plays The Old Laughing Lady solo is amazing. It displays a guy who’s played this ax for decades, a true guitar strangler. The choice of notes and phrasing and artifice is brilliant.

I like watching guys like Neil Young and Bob Dylan getting old. There’s a mastery to their playing, a different level of weilding the instrument, the way they make the hard things looks so easy and effortless. There’s also that freedom of coming so far and seeing so much that allows you to not care what others think, a relaxation that comes with that maturity.