Global Variables and Form Variables

For some reason, the first time I attempt to access a form variable or global variable PHP does not seem to think it's defined. For each one that shows an "undefined" error, I've had to put the following code at the beginning of the script. Should I have to do this? <?php if (!isset($somevar)) { $somevar = ""; } ?> I have the register_globals set to true in the php.ini. and I restarted my server. Any ideas? Thanks much, Jim