The pic you posted is a great start!

I think the pic at the bottom should definitely be something else, or simply removed...it looks repetitive because the same pic is used all over the place.

The left-links could be part of the page, not a separate frame, however, have a border or something to set the apart from the rest of the page. Nothing fancy or tacky, just so the eye can quickly pick up on the page structure. Most websites with left-hand menus do it this way. Is that what you had in mind? Whether we put the menu info at the top or the left, I don't think it should be a separate frame that stays on the screen while the page is scrolled.

I also think it would be a good idea to float the text over the background image so it stays centered on the screen. It's easy to do with CSS, we just have to decide how to place it so that it looks descent near the menu and if the menu is scrolled off the screen.