Thank you to those of you who have taken the time to give constructive criticism on the design. I will replace the background and menu so that they have a more modest color scheme. That is "In progress".
Regarding the flaming comments, learn to understand the meaning of _constructive_ criticism. If you think the design sucks, that is fine, but please tell me why instead of just stating that it sucks.
How is the font standing out in an ugly way? Is it the font itself of the white color, or both? I would like to have an 8-bit/arcadish font but unfortunately It's a safer bet to go with something widespread as not all browsers support installable fonts, and I place a lot of weight on accessibility and complying with the CSS2 and XHTML1.1 standards.
Regarding the ads there will pronbably be less of them in the future. I'm currently evaluating two different ad-companies to see which one presents more relevant adds to my visitors. If you have an idea for a change in placement I'll be happy to listen. The current placement is so that the adds will not "break off" any content, as seen on many other more "modern looking" websites. For example a lot of people place a gargantuan add unit directly underneath the menu. This clearly generates more revenue but I'm sure it annoys users to a greater degree. Again, thank you all for your input, keep it coming