smalldatetime field in SQL database is NULL... how do I check in C# if this is null?

I'm working on an existing database and some of records have smalldatetime fields in it are NULL. 
Which causes a program error when I try to do a @db.mydate.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy") conversion.  So I need to check if it's not null before I attempt a .ToString() method. 
How do I check if an sql server table smalldatetime field is not null in c# before I attempt a .ToString()? 
I've tried all sorts of ways, casting, etc. and always get a "Cannot perform runtime binding on a null reference".... this is way easy to do in VBscript ASP, but can't get around this freaking c# error. 
... NEVER MIND... FOUND THE SOLUTION. MODS PLEASE DELETE THIS EMBARRASSING POST :) 
** I always find the solution after explaining my problem here!