Load time is not an issue for me, but I'd ditch the applets. The best sites are those that keep it relatively simple. The right hand nav looks cool the first couple of times, but it gets annoying thereafter, IMHO. Also, the site is a little hard on the eyes ... the font and font color choices could be better. I've seen worse, but red on black never looks great, and gives people a headache after a while. Best to stick with white and other light colors if you're going to use a black background. Please don't take this as a SLAM, but rather constructive criticism. I think what you are doing is great! Thanks for your efforts. -Tim