Chase .

The logo works and man do I hear you on the "client requests" bit. Limits sometimes push us to new limits but sometimes just make us miserable.
The half circle is not centered and it is throwing things for me still. The menu I think should be left justified. Right now it looks more like content to read versus a menu (sorry I know you said not to look at that)
lol I got to admit this looks somewhat along the lines of a style I used for a site I did probono recently http://www.dorchesterseniors.com/