So heres a categories list, just like the widget, but you can style it or change the HTML in any way you like!

$args = array('orderby' => 'name', 'order' => 'ASC');
$categories = get_categories($args);
foreach($categories as $category) {
    echo '<li><a href="'.get_category_link($category->cat_ID).'" class="mage"><span class="icon">)</span> '.$category->cat_name.'</a></li>';
}

via Inigo Media

In a Google search I stumbled upon the Transient API – oh lordy, yes!
So custom sessions aren’t working for me, transients are the next best thing, they are super easy too!

## STORE TEXT
set_transient($myvar, 'text I want to store', 60*60*12);

## RETRIEVE TEXT
echo get_transient($myvar);

## DELETE THE TEXT
delete_transient($myvar);

All my troubles seem so far away!

add_filter('excerpt_length', 'my_excerpt_length');
function my_excerpt_length($length) {
	return 60;
}

The following code does just that. It takes all the posts from the current blog, imports them into WordPresses tables, it inserts the featured image and then links it to the parent post. All thats then left to do is upload the images directory to WordPresses upload dir.

## DATABASE CONNECTION
// trololol you don't get to see this :]

## CLEAN URLS PLEASE
function toAscii($str) {
	$clean = preg_replace("/[^a-zA-Z0-9\/_|+ -]/", '', $str);
	$clean = strtolower(trim($clean, '-'));
	$clean = preg_replace("/[\/_|+ -]+/", '-', $clean);
	return $clean;
}

## SELECT THE BLOG DATABASE TO IMPORT, ORDER IT BY ID ASC (OR BY DATE ASC W/E)
$blog_q = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM `blog` ORDER BY `ID` ASC");
while($blog = mysql_fetch_array($blog_q)):

	## INSERT POST INTO WORDPRESS
	mysql_query("INSERT INTO `wp_posts` (
		`post_author`,
		`post_date`,
		`post_date_gmt`,
		`post_content`,
		`post_title`,
		`post_excerpt`,
		`post_status`,
		`comment_status`,
		`ping_status`,
		`post_password`,
		`post_name`,
		`to_ping`,
		`pinged`,
		`post_modified`,
		`post_modified_gmt`,
		`post_content_filtered`,
		`post_parent`,
		`guid`,
		`menu_order`,
		`post_type`,
		`post_mime_type`,
		`comment_count`) VALUES(
		'1',
		'".$blog['blogDATESUBMITTED']."',
		'".$blog['blogDATESUBMITTED']."',
		'".$blog['blogARTICLE']."',
		'".$blog['blogTITLE']."',
		'',
		'publish',
		'open',
		'open',
		'',
		'".toAscii($blog['blogTITLE'])."',
		'',
		'',
		'".$blog['blogDATESUBMITTED']."',
		'".$blog['blogDATESUBMITTED']."',
		'',
		'0',
		'',
		'0',
		'post',
		'',
		'0'
		)");

	## INSERT IMAGE INTO POSTS FEATURED IMAGE
	mysql_query("INSERT INTO `wp_posts` (
		`post_author`,
		`post_date`,
		`post_date_gmt`,
		`post_content`,
		`post_title`,
		`post_excerpt`,
		`post_status`,
		`comment_status`,
		`ping_status`,
		`post_password`,
		`post_name`,
		`to_ping`,
		`pinged`,
		`post_modified`,
		`post_modified_gmt`,
		`post_content_filtered`,
		`post_parent`,
		`guid`,
		`menu_order`,
		`post_type`,
		`post_mime_type`,
		`comment_count`) VALUES(
		'1',
		'".$blog['blogDATESUBMITTED']."',
		'".$blog['blogDATESUBMITTED']."',
		'',
		'".$blog['blogIMAGEALT']."',
		'',
		'inherit',
		'open',
		'open',
		'',
		'".toAscii($blog['blogIMAGEALT'])."',
		'',
		'',
		'".$blog['blogDATESUBMITTED']."',
		'".$blog['blogDATESUBMITTED']."',
		'',
		'".mysql_insert_id()."',
		'http://www.newdomain.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/".$blog['blogIMAGE']."',
		'0',
		'attachment',
		'image/jpeg',
		'0'
		)");

	## LINK IT TOGETHER IN THE POST_META
	mysql_query("INSERT INTO `wp_postmeta` (`post_id`, `meta_key`, `meta_value`) VALUES('".mysql_insert_id()."', '_wp_attached_file', '2012/03/".$blog['blogIMAGE']."')");

	## AND SPIT OUT ONCE DONE….
	echo $blog['ID'].' ---> '.$blog['blogTITLE'].'<br />';

endwhile; // end, select the blog database