I'm trying to build a simple alert mechanism with jQuery Tools -- in response to a bit of Javascript code, pop up an overlay with a message and an OK button that, when clicked, makes the overlay go away. Trivial, or it should be. I've been slavishly following http://flowplayer.org/tools/demos/overlay/trigger.html, and have something that works fine the first time it's invoked, but only that time. If I repeat the JS action that should expose the overlay, it doesn't.

My content/DIV:

<div class='modal' id='the_alert'>
  <div id='modal_content' class='modal_content'>
    <h2>hi there</h2>
    this is the body
    <p>
    <button class='close'>OK</button>
    </p>
  </div>
  <div id='modal_background' class='modal_background'><img src='/images/overlay/f9f9f9-180.png' class='stretch' alt='' /></div>
</div>

and the Javascript:

function showOverlayDialog() {
$('#the_alert').overlay({
    mask: {color: '#cccccc', loadSpeed: 200, opacity: 0.9}, 
    closeOnClick: false,
    load: true 
});
}

As I said: When showOverlayDialog() is invoked the first time, the overlay appears just like it should, and goes away when the "OK" button is clicked. But if I cause showOverlayDialog() to run again, without reloading the page, nothing happens. If I reload the page, then the pattern repeats -- the first invocation brings up the overlay, but the second one doesn't.

I'm obviously missing something -- any advice out there? Thanks!