Also, as a double check, go to :
http://www.solar-noon.com/
and create a calendar for solar noon for your location.
Then tomorrow, (or today if you are quick) about ten minutes before solar noon (12:13pm for me, which is 1:13pm with daylight saving) take a plumb bob (or a string with a weight in the end) outside, and hold the string up so that you can see a shadow cast on the ground.
mark a point on the ground where your south facing tripod leg normally sits.
Move yourself around until the shadow falls across the mark on the ground where your south facing tripod leg normally sits.
You will have a shadow line with one end falling on your south leg contact point with the ground. at the exact moment of solar noon (1:13pm for me) then that shadow will be running perfectly north/south. you can mark the other end of the line (well your assistant can) and now you have a perfect north/south reference.
I did this the first time I was having trouble with polar alignment and found my compass method had been way way off, I had been adjusting for magnetic north by 12 degrees, but in the wrong direction!
It is a good thing to do just as a reality check that your compass method is not off due to calibration, interference or jet plain old error. You can then cross one thing off your list as being definitely right.