public function updateAccount( array $data ) 
  {
      $Row = $this->fetchRow('user_id=\''.$data['userid'].'\'');
      $this->addValuesToRow( $Row, $data );
      $Row->save();
      return $Row;
  }

  public function addAccount( array $data ) {
	$Row = $this->createRow();
	$this->addValuesToRow( $Row, $data );
	$Row->save();
	Return $Row;
  }

/** maps the $data keys to columns in the table */
  private static function addValuesToRow( &$row, array $data) {
      foreach( array_keys($data) as $colkey) {
        switch($colkey) {
	case 'userid':
	    $row->USER_ID	= $data[$colkey];
	    break;
	case 'firstname':
	    $row->FNAME		= $data[$colkey];
	    break;
	/** other case statements */
	    
	}
      }
  }