my $schema = My::Schema::Class->connect
("dbi:mysql:dbname=BLAHBLAH;host=localhost", 
"BLAH", "HEAPBIGSECRET", {AutoCommit => 1})
or croak("cannot connect to main database");
	
# Strobe the database-connection right now to be sure it's here
$schema->storage->ensure_connected();
croak("connection failed to main database") 
unless $schema->storage->connected;