You're welcome, india, but it was your other helpers that are the ones who actually helped you. I'm glad that there is a way for you to do what you want.

Hey India,
Any luck trying to get this to work?. I want to do the same thing and was wondering if you were able to get this working?.

Thanks,
Ahmed

I'm using some extra block zones i use to call in my template this way and it's not hard adding more as they follow just the way the other block zones (l, cl, cc, cr, r) are initialized. Not sure if it will work for you the same way cause i'm using 2.0.7.3 and still haven't checked it on 2.2. On my place there are only 4 files that need a bit modification for adding new zone:
- header.php
- include/common.php
- modules/system/admin/blocksadmin/blockform.php
- modules/system/admin/blocksadmin/blocksadmin.php
I think just simple php knowledge is needed to easily find the code that is connected with block zones in these files and add some extra code following the model of the default zones.

I moved the center right block code and put it in the header and then applied a random image script in a custom block so that on each refresh or change of page in the site you get a new header.

See it in action HERE