function getMenu() {
  _getMenu("menu.xml");
}


function getBdayMenu() {
  _getMenu("bdayMenu.xml");
}


function _getMenu(menuFile) {
  var req = null;
  var navBar = document.getElementById("navBar");

  if (window.XMLHttpRequest)
    req = new XMLHttpRequest();
  else
    if (window.ActiveXObject) {
      try {
        req = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
      }
      catch (e) {
        try {
          req  = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
        }
        catch (e) {}
      }
      
    }

  req.onreadystatechange = function() {
    if (req.readyState == 4) {
      if (req.status == 200) {
        navBar.innerHTML = req.responseText;
      }
      else {
        navBar.innerHTML="Error: returned status code " + req.status + " " + req.statusText;
      }
    }
  };
  req.open("GET", menuFile, true);
  req.setRequestHeader("Content-Type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
  req.send(null);
}