Well, the computer wars are near an end. I've fought valiantly, but my computer continues to prevail. Urgh. Nevertheless, after hours of saving, resaving and rebooting, I finally have the final pieces printed out (except for the cover and table of contents, which remain in limbo because KINKOS sucks... more on that to follow shortly).
Anywho, without further ado, here are the final designs!!!

Here, I blocked up the main title and kerned the lettering. I then gridded off the main text so it would fit exactly under the main titles, making a larger box grid. I really like how it came out. I also rescanned everything in order to better remove the moire pattern. I'm actually really happy with the outcome. I'm scared to reread it now, though, for fear that I'll find an evil typo!

This is an interior spread. evened out the columns and recentered the images. The strip on the right page goes all the way to the center margin. I wanted everything to have a very streamlined look. Pretty happy with the results.
Now for another rant... KINKOS, my ultimate frenemy. They're a friend because the one near my house is open 24 hours, which suits my insomniac nature. They're an enemy because I've often been befuddled by strange printing errors. Well, first I went around 5pm and printed everything. However, once I got everything mounted, I discovered some printer roller marks on the editorial... so I wanted to reprint. I went back to KINKOS just an hour later, and was told they don't have any 12 by 18 paper... strange considering they had this size just an hour earlier. I pointed that out, and was told "we may have it, and I just don't know where it is." ... here's a thought... look for it! YOU HAD IT JUST A MOMENT AGO!!!!
Argh... it's the lack of sleep and finals speaking. End of rant.