function setCookie(name, value, expires) {
        if (!expires) 
		     expires = new Date();
		  var cookieStr = name + "=" + escape(value);
		  if (expires != "session")
		     cookieStr += "; expires=" + expires.toGMTString();
		  cookieStr += "; path=/"; 
        document.cookie = cookieStr;
    }
    // var expdate = new Date ();
    // expdate.setTime (expdate.getTime() + (1000 * 60 * 60 * 24 * 31));
    // setCookie ("_name", "Bob", expdate);
    function getCookie(name) {
       var dcookie = document.cookie; 
       var cname = name + "=";
       var clen = dcookie.length;
       var cbegin = 0;
       while (cbegin < clen) {
          var vbegin = cbegin + cname.length;
          if (dcookie.substring(cbegin, vbegin) == cname) { 
             var vend = dcookie.indexOf (";", vbegin);
             if (vend == -1) 
				    vend = clen;
             return(unescape(dcookie.substring(vbegin, vend)));
          }
          cbegin = dcookie.indexOf(" ", cbegin) + 1;
          if (cbegin == 0) break;
       }
       return(null);
    }
    function delCookie(name) {
       var expireNow = new Date();
       document.cookie = name + "=" 
		                 + "; expires=Thu, 01-Jan-70 00:00:01 GMT" 
							  + "; path=/";
    }