[jQuery] Calling SimpleModal .modal

[jQuery] Calling SimpleModal .modal


jQuery n00bie here. I have the following script that is called from
the onclick event of a link:
function getUserModsAsList(obj) {
    jQuery(document).ready(function() {
        var userID = obj.getAttribute('userid');
        jQuery.ajax( {
            type: "POST",
            dataType: "html",
            cache: false,
            timeout: 30000,
            url: window.location.protocol + '//' + location.host + '/
getusermodslist.php',
            data: "userid=" + userID,
            success: function(data) {
             alert("Retrieved user's mod list: " + data); // WORKS!
             //jQuery.modal(data); DOESN'T WORK!
            },
            error: function(request, error) {
                if (error = "timeout") {
                    alert("Unable to retrieve mods for this member!\r\nPlease try
again later.");
                }
                else {
                    alert("An error occured: " + error + "\r\nPlease contact the site
administrator to help resolve this problem.");
                }
            }
        });
        return false;
    });
}
This script works great and displays an alert box with the data
returned from the ajax call to the server. My issue is with
calling .modal(data) from this script. I have to use the jQuery
calling syntax rather than the usual $. syntax because of a conflict
with prototype.js. How do I call .modal using the jQuery convention
rather than the $.modal convention? If I use jQuery.modal(data) I get
a function not defined error in Firebug.
Thanks for the help