Thanks for all the feedback!
I was playing with a two-column layout but the comments about better control over placement had me experimenting with a three-column one today.
The more I play around with this the more ideas I'm getting for other blogs I'd do a different way. I guess I may just have to do another one when I get the hang of this first one.
Now I have to decide how wide my side columns need to be. Which I think comes down to whether I want to use sponsor-supplied button graphics. Without those, I can stay quite a bit narrower I think.
Btw... I did know that some of the blogs I mentioned were just barely over 800 wide, but I had to get you folks here somehow.
Thanks again for the feedback. I'll post a URL here for more advice when I have something more than the thin flesh over bones I have now.