Thank you Joel. Solved my problem. And I learned some valuable insights too. Much appreciated!
Still trying to wrap my head around your beautiful and suscinct code :-) I'm still kind of new to the whole client-side of things. My only remaining issue is IE7's behavior in which the dropshadow appears a split second after the ul.sfHover appears, giving it an annoying snapping into place feel. Also looking forward to the "click to display" rather than on hover you mentioned in one of your posts. Blessings to you, David Carroll