minor modification using content tag
should commit more often, sorry...
added cookies, created a sessions helper function, made this accessible by other controllers and it is automatically accessible in the views
added an if else clause in the _header.html.erb file that displays links Profile and Settigns only to people who are signed in, and displays a sign_in link otherwise.  Uses javascript from the bootstrap library and checks the sign_in? method which is available to all views b/c it is a helper to the sessions controller.
added a signup, boy i'm tired....