anyway, i went ahead and downloaded Firefox (i've been using IE). the image looks a whole lot better. any of you who have both on your box might want to compare.
i think it must have been a recent build of IE that made this happen. i've never notice this before, and i am pretty aware of colors.
henceforth, i recommend using Firefox when viewing my journal or websites.
PS, Mac users: Safari seems equivalenmt to Firefox.