"Timestamping" rows question.

Suppose I have a column on a table which represents the last time this row was modified. I would prefer the database to update this column, rather than the application. My conclusions so far: INSERT is easy, you can set the column to be default CURRENT. UPDATE is more complicated you need a TRIGGER/PROCEDURE combination to "re-update" the column with CURRENT after the initial UPDATE. Now I would guess that this isn't as bad as it sounds as the row would probably be in cache at this point. To avoid the former is it possible to "intercept" an UPDATE and modify values prior to the UPDATE? Any other comments / disagreements with my conclusions? Please reply to my email address as well as the Newsgroup. Thank You.