So here's what's going on: in the documentation it says 
that HTTrack isn't strict about the syntax you use for 
httrackrc files ( set var value as apposed to var = 
value ), but for path i found this not to be true, or at 
least the thing doesn't work unless i used set path "<path 
here>"

also i realize now that the mirror option is not where you 
set the starting address... so to utilize that i am now 
using the list param in my httrackrc file.  my new file 
looks like this:

set path "C:\testPath"
set list "C:\Program Files\WinHTTrack\url.txt"
set near on
deny *
allow *.gif
allow *.jpg
allow *.css
allow *.js
allow *.png
allow *www.osha.gov/SLTC/eyeandface_etool/*

where url.txt simply has
<http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/eyeandface_etool/index.html> in it

i'm glad i figured this out on my own i guess, and now 
i'll get back to my project.  thanks everyone, but still 
the var = thing needs to be checked up on.