for anyone who is interested. i ended up commenting out the following lines:

/*
#headerWrapperb {
background:url(../images/shadowRight.png) repeat-y 100% 0;
width:71em;
}

#headerWrapperc {
background:url(../images/shadowLeft.png) repeat-y 0 0;
width:71em;
}

#dropMenuWrapperb {
width:71em;
margin:0 auto;
position:relative;
}

#dropMenuWrapperc {
background:url(../images/shadowRight.png) repeat-y 100% 0;
width:71em;
margin:0 auto;
position:absolute;
height:2.18em;
}

#dropMenuWrapperd {
background:url(../images/shadowLeft.png) repeat-y 0 0;
width:71em;
margin:0 auto;
position:absolute;
height:2.18em;
}
*/

after i commented them out my template loads perfectly in ie 6 and 7 and firefox (haven't tried safari yet). anyway, these lines only need to be commented out if you drop the logo down and choose to use the narrow header as seen here:

http://dev.creativeap.com/zencart