About the countdown clock, if Jim needs one, I know of a good free Flash animated/HTML clock you can get.

Go right here: BlingyBlob.com - Custom countdowns and countdown timers for your MySpace, Xanga, Hi5, etc.

The clock is fully customizable, down to the second! I used one on my website, didn't have a problem out of it.

Hopefully you don't have to censor that link... it's just myspace codes, so it should be alright to post here.