Jack Stand location?

["Jon Lind" <JLind@ColoradoSkiing.com>]

When working on the front of the car, I always put the jack stands beneath
the front cross member.  This seems to be my only choice of locations, but I
don't feel very comfortable with it because it's not really biting onto
anything--the stands are just resting on a flat, oily piece of steel and are
very close to each other.  But unless I'm missing something, this is my only
choice of locations.