thanks all for the help. just fyi, i did measure my hub demensions using a 1/2-way decent caliper. granted i'm using the rim's erd from the manufacturer, but everything i checked/double checked and is accurate. the spoke lengths i referenced were using a couple online calculators (one from the mentioned sheldon brown link).
my concern was mostly based on said link, where this was mentioned: The length is not super critical. Most spoke calculators give results to the tenth of a mm, but spokes are usually sold in 1 mm size increments (some brands only in 2 mm increments.) Generally, I round upward to the nearest available larger size.
i'm a science geek by trade, and lots of the numbers i deal with +/- 0.5mm would be huge. so i wasn't sure what was concidered critical or not. i figured the 0.5mm short thing wouldn't be too much of a problem, since all the spokes i looked at were rounded to the nearest 1mm. i just wasn't too sure about the drive side rear #.
so no, i'm not too interested in the gamble, and that's why i asked before i bought. it seemed like a pretty good deal to get a box, but i'm not interested in dealing with it coming out crappy either.
thanks again!