hmm I was thinking a not gate of sorts, but figured I'd need some type of integrated circuit (looks like the 4049 has 6 independent NOT gates). however the wiki shows a way to create one with two transistors > http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/TTL_NOT_gate.svg. however this does take two transistors. im looking for the lowest cost solution, so using transistor biasing with a single transistor might be the ticket. or even a PNP type for that matter. alternatively, I could rethink my problem and probably do it with more wire and no transistor at all.
The NOT gate does have an element of elegance however.
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction guys.
Cheers,
cyberal