'Connect to our domain'

def _connect(self):

    if (not self._db):
        import boto
        sdb = boto.connect_sdb()
        if (not self.domain_name):
            self.domain_name = boto.config.get('DB', 'sequence_db', boto.config.get('DB', 'db_name', 'default'))
        try:
            self._db = sdb.get_domain(self.domain_name)
        except SDBResponseError as e:
            if (e.status == 400):
                self._db = sdb.create_domain(self.domain_name)
            else:
                raise
    return self._db
