utilities.values = function(obj) {
    if (! obj) throw "Error in function 'values': invalid 'obj' parameter."
    
    // Initialize array that will contain the object values
    var arr = [];
    
    // loop through the object keys, storing each value in the array
    for (var key in obj) {
      // add value to the array
      arr.push(obj[key]);
    }
    return arr;
  };

 utilities.shuffle = function(arr) {
    if(! utilities.isArray(arr)) throw "Error in function 'shuffle': 'arr' parameter is not an array.";
    
    // store the number of elements in a variable
    var num = arr.length;
    
    // Loop through the array
    for (var i = 0; i < num; i++) {
      // create variable to hold the value on the current item
      var temp = arr[i];
      // calculate random index
      var randIndex = Math.floor(Math.random() * num);
      // swap value on current index with value on random index
      arr[i] = arr[randIndex];
      arr[randIndex] = temp;
    }
  };