def open_conn(host, db, user, password, retries=0, sleep=0.5):
    '''
    Return an open mysql db connection using the given credentials.  Use
    `retries` and `sleep` to be robust to the occassional transient connection
    failure.

    retries: if an exception when getting the connection, try again at most this many times.
    sleep: pause between retries for this many seconds.  a float >= 0.
    '''
    assert retries >= 0

    try:
        return MySQLdb.connect(host=host, user=user, passwd=password, db=db)
    except Exception:
        if retries > 0:
            time.sleep(sleep)
            return open_conn(host, db, user, password, retries - 1, sleep)
        else:
            raise
Return an open mysql db connection using the given credentials.  Use
    `retries` and `sleep` to be robust to the occassional transient connection
    failure.

    retries: if an exception when getting the connection, try again at most this many times.
    sleep: pause between retries for this many seconds.  a float >= 0.