Howdy!
I dig the layout and colors. Both of those issues are important to me!
The one thing that concerns me is the number of ads you have running at one time. They are a distraction from the information you're trying to impart to me. I'd cut down on the banner ads or at least spread them around a bit more. There are too too many at the top. You have a lot of real estate going down that right column so there's no reason to have them all at the top.
You might consider some simple text ads between the articles instead of the big banner ads.