Bits to add to wp-config.php to make things sane when developing in a real development system (local > stage > live) instead of developing directly on a live server. Which is what WP is set up to do and which is ridiculous.

wp-config.php

/* Lets not rely on paths in the database, they can be very wrong when moving between dev/stage/live environments */
/* The following two variables are backward to my thinking, but hey, what ya gonna do? */
define('WP_HOME', 'http://' . $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] . ''); // This is NOT the 'wordpress admin area' home, but the site's home
define('WP_SITEURL', 'http://' . $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] . '/SECRETDIRECTORY'); // This isn't the site's URL but the WordPress admin area URL

/* MySQL settings */
switch($_SERVER['SERVER_NAME']){
	// Your local machine's settings
	case 'mysite.local':
		define('DB_NAME', 'dev_mysite');
		define('DB_USER', 'dev_mysite');
		define('DB_PASSWORD', 'password');
		define('DB_HOST', 'mysql.local');
	break;
	
	// Your staging server's settings
	case 'mysite.testing.com':
		define('DB_NAME', 'stage_mysite');
		define('DB_USER', 'stage_mysite');
		define('DB_PASSWORD', 'otherpassword');
		define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');
	break;
	
	// your live site's settings
	default:
		define('DB_NAME', 'mysite');
		define('DB_USER', 'mysite');
		define('DB_PASSWORD', 'livepassword');
		define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');
	break;
}