You can obviously see that I updated the look of my page. What with the wonders of CSS that I've been slowly learning thanks to a side project through work, I'm finally grasping the fundamentals of the "art" of design. Keep in mind that this doesn't at all indicate that I think I have any sort of "artistic" capability in my design. For that, take a look at The CSS Zen Garden or Mezzoblue or Stop Design, all of which have fantastic design schemas. My own page looks like a backwater 1998 webpage in comparison, but at least I'm adhering (loosely, I suppose) to standards, unlike what they did in 1998.
I personally like this new look. It's a bit more varied, a little less monotonous, and still minimalist. Oh and check out the groovy transparent GIF images for the navbar...now I don't have to change the actual images when I change color scheme. w00t!