// this fixes an issue with the old method, ambiguous values
	// with this test document.cookie.indexOf( name + "=" );
	function Get_Cookie( check_name ) {
		// first we'll split this cookie up into name/value pairs
		// note: document.cookie only returns name=value, not the other components
		var a_all_cookies = document.cookie.split( ';' );
		var a_temp_cookie = '';
		var cookie_name = '';
		var cookie_value = '';
		var b_cookie_found = false; // set boolean t/f default f

		for ( i = 0; i < a_all_cookies.length; i++ ){
			// now we'll split apart each name=value pair
			a_temp_cookie = a_all_cookies[i].split( '=' );

			// and trim left/right whitespace while we're at it
			cookie_name = a_temp_cookie[0].replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, '');

			// if the extracted name matches passed check_name
			if ( cookie_name == check_name ){
				b_cookie_found = true;
				// we need to handle case where cookie has no value but exists (no = sign, that is):
				if ( a_temp_cookie.length > 1 )
				{
					cookie_value = unescape( a_temp_cookie[1].replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, '') );
				}
				// note that in cases where cookie is initialized but no value, null is returned
				return cookie_value;
				break;
			}
			a_temp_cookie = null;
			cookie_name = '';
		}
		if ( !b_cookie_found ){
			return null;
		}
	}