Monks, thanks so much for the pick me ups, suggestions and the answers. I know I'll still continue to struggle, but I also know that if I write a concise question with code or pseudo-code that some Monk will be able to help. I was also a bit tickled that Randal replied to the node - Thanks for the link never knew about it even though it was right under my nose.
I think I'm going to go with Jaap's solution because I really understand how that works. However, I do like Abigail's solution but I don't 60% of it and I don't think it's smart to use something you don't understand.