var getCookieValue = function(cookieName) {
        var cookieValue = document.cookie;
        var cookieStartsAt = cookieValue.indexOf(" " + cookieName + "="); 
        if (cookieStartsAt === -1) {
            cookieStartsAt = cookieValue.indexOf(cookieName + "=");
        }
        if (cookieStartsAt === -1) {
            cookieValue = undefined;
        } else {
            cookieStartsAt = cookieValue.indexOf("=", cookieStartsAt) + 1;
            var cookieEndsAt = cookieValue.indexOf(";", cookieStartsAt);
            if (cookieEndsAt === -1) {
                cookieEndsAt = cookieValue.length;
            }
            cookieValue = unescape(cookieValue.substring(cookieStartsAt, cookieEndsAt));
        }
        return cookieValue;
    }
    
    var setCookieValue = function (name, value, expires, path, domain, secure ) {
        // set time, it's in milliseconds
        var today = new Date();
        today.setTime( today.getTime() );
        /* if the expires variable is set, make the correct 
        expires time, the current script below will set 
        it for x number of minutes. */
        if ( expires ) {
            expires = expires * 1000 * 60;
        }
        var expires_date = new Date( today.getTime() + (expires) );
        document.cookie = name + "=" +escape( value ) +
            ( ( expires ) ? ";expires=" + expires_date.toGMTString() : "" ) + 
            ( ( path ) ? ";path=" + path : "" ) + 
            ( ( domain ) ? ";domain=" + domain : "" ) +
            ( ( secure ) ? ";secure" : "" );
    }