LIF2 redesign update

OK, so I'm trying to stick with the 960 grid design (I keep coming across articles all over the place re designing with grids, so I figure it's probably a good thing to get used to working with). The 960.gs CSS/HTML generator seems like it would be useful for mock-ups and prototyping (which I might use it for next time, instead of ppt) but not so much for a short cut build (although I suppose you could. I just don't like the idea of so much redundant code sitting out in the wild...). The gridder bookmarklet is great, for quick placement checks (although annoying it's not accessible offline - at least I've got firebug handy).

I downloaded a trail version of Photoshop as Gimp, while useful and an awesome free program, just wasn't cutting it for what I needed to to (including designing my business cards, which I needed to CMYK colour design for the print peeps). I'm just going to have to bite the bullet an buy the CS4 package... It's been fun having the freedom to easily work on images again, I have to say...

So I've started pulling together the first draft of LIF2 and it's been way more difficult than i anticipated (of course :-) I've been stuck trying to get things to align all over the page like I want them (another reason why 'll be mocking up in code from now on...). I decided to go and have a sticky-beak at how other people achieve what I'm trying to achieve, to try to get some idea of what I'm doing wrong. I popped over to a similar site built by a design agency who shall remain nameless (they've been on my radar re future employer) and discovered that they built the whole thing using tables. Tables within tables. I can't tell you how disappointed I am. It's exactly what I've been taught what NOT to do. I understand it's probably a quick/dirty way of building (and if a company wants a cheap web presence, it's probably the way things go), but I honestly didn't think that was done anymore.

This being said, I'm now torn. Do I treat this as a learning experience and try to get the most out of it by sticking to my table-less CSS laying out, or do I just get something up sooner rather than later to display my design and focus on flash/job hunting?

And then there's the photo issue - the client sent through some great shots, but none that are really suitable for the front page. We need some that are personal, face-facing, connecting shots, and we probably need to look at organising new ones of her clients or purchasing some stock photos. Which probably isn't out of the question - if that's all this redesign costs her, I don't think she'll complain...