Home Page Mock-up

Hi Folks, I have attached a mockup for the front page. It is a work in progress, but I thought it was a good time to get some feedback on the look and layout. Let me know what you like/dislike about it. Keep in mind I am not a designer... Also, I wanted to broach the topic of fixed width vs. liquid layout. I know some work went into making the layout stretch to fill the browser. At the moment, however, this doesn't seem to be working very well. Liquid layouts also make it harder to design a nice layout because things never line up consistently. How strongly do you feel about having the page stretch? Stew