Since the package is still 'alpha', when you do a plain `npm install mysql` it won't get the new v2 version, so you need the @ to say "this version". npm knows how to do this. Not sure why Travis would fail. 

```
npm ERR! Error: No compatible version found: mysql@'mysql@2.0.0-alpha9'
```

I'll dig into the docs and figure it out. Perhaps I need to drop the `mysql@` and just do `2.0.0-alpha9`.