// array to store the background rgb's for each menu column
		var aMenuColRGB = new Array('#8aa3ab','#adc2a5','#aad2ca','#c89d5f','#a7bd8a','#c7c292');

		// DOM object references to avoid continual lookups
		var adMenuColTD = new Array();
		var adMenuColDIV = new Array();
		var adMenuBttnTD = new Array();
		var adMenuItems = new Array();

		function get_menu_refs(){
			adMenuColTD[0] = document.getElementById('menu_col1_td');
			adMenuColTD[1] = document.getElementById('menu_col2_td');
			adMenuColTD[2] = document.getElementById('menu_col3_td');
			adMenuColTD[3] = document.getElementById('menu_col4_td');
			adMenuColTD[4] = document.getElementById('menu_col5_td');
			adMenuColTD[5] = document.getElementById('menu_col6_td');

			adMenuColDIV[0] = document.getElementById('menu_col1_div');
			adMenuColDIV[1] = document.getElementById('menu_col2_div');
			adMenuColDIV[2] = document.getElementById('menu_col3_div');
			adMenuColDIV[3] = document.getElementById('menu_col4_div');
			adMenuColDIV[4] = document.getElementById('menu_col5_div');
			adMenuColDIV[5] = document.getElementById('menu_col6_div');

			adMenuBttnTD[0] = document.getElementById('menu_bttn1_td');
			adMenuBttnTD[1] = document.getElementById('menu_bttn2_td');
			adMenuBttnTD[2] = document.getElementById('menu_bttn3_td');
			adMenuBttnTD[3] = document.getElementById('menu_bttn4_td');
			adMenuBttnTD[4] = document.getElementById('menu_bttn5_td');
			adMenuBttnTD[5] = document.getElementById('menu_bttn6_td');
			
			adMenuItems[0] = new Array('careers', 'news', 'history', 'staff', 'philosophy');
			adMenuItems[1] = new Array('surveyor', 'emailer', 'esurvey', 'cms', 'crm');
			adMenuItems[2] = new Array('site_maint', 'web_app', 'hosting', 'design');
			adMenuItems[3] = new Array();
			adMenuItems[4] = new Array();
			adMenuItems[5] = new Array('email_us');
		}

		function act_menu(_idx){
			for(i = 0; i < adMenuColTD.length; i++)
			{
				if(i == _idx)
				{
					hilite_menu_col(i);
					show_menu(i);
				}else{
					lolite_menu_col(i);
					hide_menu(i);
				}
			}
		}

		function inact_menu(_idx){
			lolite_menu_col(_idx);
			hide_menu(_idx);
		}

		function show_menu(_idx){
			if(adMenuColDIV[_idx]){ adMenuColDIV[_idx].style.display = ''; }
		}

		function hide_menu(_idx){
			if(adMenuColDIV[_idx]){ adMenuColDIV[_idx].style.display = 'none'; }
		}

		function hilite_menu_col(_idx){
			if(adMenuColTD[_idx]){ adMenuColTD[_idx].style.backgroundColor = aMenuColRGB[_idx]; }
			if(adMenuBttnTD[_idx]){ adMenuBttnTD[_idx].style.backgroundColor = '#c4dde2'; }
		}

		function lolite_menu_col(_idx){
			if(adMenuColTD[_idx]){ adMenuColTD[_idx].style.backgroundColor = '#91b6be'; }
			if(adMenuBttnTD[_idx]){ adMenuBttnTD[_idx].style.backgroundColor = '#abcad0'; }
		}

		function act_menu_bttn(menu_idx, item_idx){
			for(i = 0; i < adMenuItems[menu_idx].length; i++)
			{
				if(i == item_idx)
				{
					eval("chng_img = bttn_hp_" + adMenuItems[menu_idx][i] + "_on");
					document.getElementById("bttn_" + adMenuItems[menu_idx][i]).src = chng_img.src
				}else{
					eval("chng_img = bttn_hp_" + adMenuItems[menu_idx][i] + "_off");
					document.getElementById("bttn_" + adMenuItems[menu_idx][i]).src = chng_img.src
				}
			}
		}

		function inact_menu_bttn(menu_idx, item_idx){
			eval("chng_img = bttn_hp_" + adMenuItems[menu_idx][item_idx] + "_off");
			document.getElementById("bttn_" + adMenuItems[menu_idx][item_idx]).src = chng_img.src
		}