OK, the pilot light produced a yellow flame so I purchased a new thermocouple and installed. I also took some compressed air and cleaned out the pilot light itself from both ends. I then reinstalled the burner, pilot light and thermocouple into the gas hot water heater. Started the pilot light and the pilot now burns BLUE!!! For those who don't know, yellow (like in the picture above) is NOT GOOD because it indicates a blockage somewhere in the pilot light. Yellow doesn't get hot enough either....what we want is a BLUE flame, NOT yellow.

The burner started right up and I should have hot water within a few hours. Special thanks to everyone who stepped up and assisted with this issue. I don't know that much about gas hot water heaters so all of the help was most appreciated!!