title: php date less than another date
body: <p>given this kind of date object 
  <code>date("m/d/Y", strtotime($numerical." ".$day." of ".date("F")))</code></p>
  
  <p>where it may give a mm/dd/yyyy day that is the "first Monday of August", for instance</p>
  
  <p>how can I decide if this date is greater than, less than, or equal to today's date?</p>
  
  <p>I need a <code>now()</code> method that works in this format and can be compared between date objects</p>
  
  <p>I haven't tried date() &lt; date() , yet. But I don't think that will work</p>
  
  <p>any insight appreciated</p>