def has_table(self, table_name, **kwargs):
        """
        check to see if a table is in the db

        table_name -- string -- the table to check
        return -- boolean -- True if the table exists, false otherwise
        """
        with self.connection(kwargs.get('connection', None)) as connection:
            kwargs['connection'] = connection
            tables = self.get_tables(table_name, **kwargs)
            return len(tables) > 0