Mel! hey chica, sorry i missed the chicks rock boogies. i heard it was very fab. see you this weekend though. :) Ari - the one teammate that i did have has wrecked himself badly in a bicycling accident. Ron - thank you for the link. it's looking quite useful. on a completely unrelated subject - how on earth do i change this line that says i'm a "newbie" to something else?? i can't find the profile line that this belongs to. many thanks, -R