@Veeco and Vnuchaev...
For my personal use, I can insert a javascript (similar to
THIS HERE) into the template doc (using
SD Simple Simon).
Then, I go in and change
var target_date = new Date("Aug 15, 2019").getTime();
to something like
var target_date = new Date("<?php echo $cck->renderField('field_name') ?>").getTime();
with "field_name" being the name of the date-type field you plan to use. For me it will be an unpublish date.
I hope this helps others, if I screwed something up, please correct me.
For more on templating, See James Morrell's superb tutorial here -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPMnAbi1-8w