while(($key, $value) = each(%$href)) {
  %$href{$key}->[1]->[0]->[0] = 1; #this gives a syntax error
  %{$href{$key}}->[1]->[0]->[0] = "blah" #gives error
  print "$key\n";  # but when i do this the code prints all the keys of the reference to the hash.  so I assume the the hash was passed through correctly
}